Green Paper on Developing Northern Australia A Joint … · 2016-04-12 · Green Paper on...

Green Paper on Developing Northern Australia

A Joint submission to theNorthern Australia Taskforce

by

The Regional Australia Institute, James Cook University, Central QueenslandUniversity, The University of Notre Dame and Ninti One

Contents

Page

About the Collaboration 3

Summary of Findings 3

Contributed Papers 17

Understanding the characteristics of remote Northern Australia for successfulpolicy developmentJan Ferguson, Managing Director, Ninti One Limted and Apolline Kohen, SeniorPolicy Adviser, Ninti One Limited.

18

Underpinning development: Health and health workforce in northern AustraliaSR Davies, MS Alex Edelman and Dr Felicity Croker, Faculty of Medicine,Health and Science, James Cook University.

23

The relationship between workforce mobility, liveability and development innorthern AustraliaProfessor John Rolfe, School of Business and Law, Central QueenslandUniversity.

34

Human Services sector development in northern AustraliaProfessor Hurriyet Babacan, School of Health, University of New England,Founding Director, The Cairns Institute, James Cook University.

38

What type of future for northern Australia’s tourism sector?Professor Bruce Prideaux, Faculty of Law, Business and Creative Arts, JamesCook University.

53

Northern Australia Agriculture Policy: Opportunities and RisksJim Turnour, Adjunct Research Fellow, The Cairns Institute, James CookUniversity. PhD Candidate, Northern Futures Collaborative Research Network,The Cairns Institute, James Cook University.

63

Themes in development of the agricultural and resource sectors in NorthernAustraliaProfessor John Rolfe, School of Business and Law, Central QueenslandUniversity.

75

Education futures in northern AustraliaProfessor Sue McGinty, School of Indigenous Australian Studies,Dr Claire Campbell, School of Education, Dr Margaret Carter, School ofEducation, Ms Helen McDonald, School of Education, James Cook University.

80

A joint submission to the Northern Australia Taskforce Page 1

Page

Re-imagining post-secondary education as a driver of social and economicdevelopment in northern AustraliaProfessor Drew Dawson, Director, Appleton Institute, Central QueenslandUniversity, Professor Denise Wood, Central Queensland University, ProfessorMarie Brennan, Victoria University, Professor Helen Huntley, CentralQueensland University.

91

Defence in the three tropical cities: How to sustainably seize the potential?Dr Riccardo Welters, Discipline of Economics, James Cook University.

118

What climate change and cyclones mean for northern AustraliaProfessor Steve Turton, Discipline of Environmental Sciences and Geography,James Cook University.

131

Economic equity and major developmentProfessor Natalie Stoeckl, Faculty of Law, Business and Creative Arts, TheCairns Institute, James Cook University.

141

Land Tenure and development in northern AustraliaProfessor Allan Dale, The Cairns Institute, James Cook University andBruce Taylor, CSIRO.

149

Aboriginal Local Government and Community Sector Partnerships – sustainableemployment in northern DevelopmentPatrick Sullivan, Associate Professor, Nulungu Research Institute, University ofNotre Dame, Australia.

154


About the Collaboration

This submission is the result of collaboration between the Regional Australia Institute (RAI), thenorthern universities: James Cook University (JCU); Central Queensland University (CQU); theUniversity of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA); and Ninti One. The RAI has worked with theuniversities to develop papers on a range of topics relating to the Australian Government’sGreen Paper on Developing Northern Australia. These papers explore the themes of health,human services, tourism, agriculture, education, defence, climate change, land tenure andeconomic equity and major development.

The RAI is independent and informed by both research and ongoing dialogue with thecommunity. It develops policy and advocates for change to build a stronger economy andbetter quality of life in regional Australia – for the benefit of all Australians. The RAI wasestablished with support from the Australian Government.

Summary of Findings

The RAI’s earlier work1 on northern development emphasised the diversity of regionalsituations in the north and the need to be wary of the ‘one-size fits all’ approach to northerndevelopment or the belief that one large new project could substantially shift the fortunes ofthis vast region.

There is no doubt that the north faces many challenges to rival its enormous opportunities.Infrastructure and human capital are the two most serious bottlenecks for growth in northernAustralia. Business sophistication is also weaker on average compared to the rest of Australiaand is likely to act as a constraint in many areas. In contrast, economic fundamentals innorthern Australia have been very high, reflecting the extent to which the resources boom hasoccurred, and continues to occur in northern Australia. i

The consolidated papers here, from experts living and working in the north on issues of thenorth, reinforce this perspective. They also emphasise that as well as facilitating investmentfrom outside to meet national and regional growth ambitions, northern development needs thepeople of northern Australia to take leadership of future opportunities.

The common findings that emerge in these contributed papers include: Successful outcomes in northern Australia will require the inclusion and participation of

remote Australians. Indigenous disadvantage continues in northern Australia in keysocial areas such as life expectancy, education, income, labour market participation andhealth.

Education, health and services in northern Australia face problems of accessibility,availability, relevance and acceptability, especially in the more remote areas.

Governance arrangements across the various jurisdictions and regions of northernAustralia are fragmented and require streamlining and/or collaboration. Land andwater use arrangements are crucial examples of these governance challenges which arecentral to future development opportunities.

The need for better data collection to enable stronger policy development.

1 Rethinking the future of northern Australia: More than mines, dams and development dreams


The importance of policies and investment to encourage people to live and remain innorthern Australia.

The importance of effective community consultation and engagement in the design anddelivery of government policy and programs.

The need to move away from a structure where northern Australia’s strategic planning isdriven by interests outside the regions.

Infrastructure shortfall, including the need to reform the governance of public investmentto provide remote communities with more responsibility and say over their future.

That although significant challenges remain, the lessons learned from past servicedelivery initiatives such as health and education and current policy successes, positionnorthern Australia as a leader in innovation.

The need for private sector and philanthropic investment, recognising that governmentwill continue to be the main provider of services and infrastructure.

Climate variability, scarce resources, sparse population, remoteness from markets andpolitical power, social variability and cultural differences are the core common featuresof remote areas in northern Australia.

Together these findings emphasise that as well as the quick wins and new initiatives that willinevitably be a feature of the current process, we also need to ensure that the morechallenging objectives of seeking better information and building the capacity of leadershipand governance in the north to drive northern futures, gets ample attention and effort.

The RAI will continue to work with the Northern Australia Taskforce and all stakeholders tohelp the people and communities in northern Australia to make the most of their potential.

The following pages detail the key findings, messages and recommendations of the papers.Full copies of each paper are attached to this submission.

Understanding the characteristics of remote northern Australia for successfulpolicy developmentJan Ferguson, Managing Director, Ninti One Limted and Apolline Kohen, Senior Policy Adviser,Ninti One Limited.

Findings

Successful development of northern Australia requires the inclusion and participation ofremote Australians.

Remote Australia is characterised by a set of features that are not individually uniquebut which together cause it to function in ways that are fundamentally different to anyother physical and social environments.

A shift in policy development and implementation is required to stimulate and achieveeconomic and social development outcomes in remote areas and especially in Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander remote communities.

Effective community engagement in the design and delivery of government programsand initiatives significantly improves outcomes. Genuine and strong local involvement isparamount. A proven effective community consultation mechanism is the AboriginalCommunity Researchers (ACR) model.

The success of northern Australia development will depend on an increased Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander participation in the economy.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment rates remain low in remotecommunities with the employment to population ratio at approximately 45 per cent.


There are real jobs in remote Australia but over 90 per cent of them are taken by non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Training and qualifications are not pre-requisite to engagement in employment in remote Australia as 44 per cent of allemployees have not completed a Certificate or higher qualification. Similarly, 41 percent of all employees had not gone beyond Year 10 at school.

Need to avoid ‘one size fits all’ approach and develop local solutions through a strongcommunity consultation mechanism.

Underpinning development: Health and health workforce in northernAustraliaSR Davies, MS Alex Edelman and Dr Felicity Croker, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Science,James Cook University.

Findings

A healthy population means that there is a healthy and productive workforce availableto industry and business to underpin economic development.

Establishing an overarching East-West governance arrangement, supported by a seriesof alliances and focused on the critical issues (see Table 1), will enhance the region’scapacity to grow and develop, with significant benefits for Australia and its nearneighbours.

Health in northern Australia reflects a combination of unique geographic anddemographic factors, including poorer health status (with northern Australia representingapproximately one third of Australia’s outer regional and remote population), andgeographic maldistribution of health professionals, meaning shortages in rural andremote areas.

In health workforce development, ensuring availability and affordability of clinicaltraining remains a significant challenge, particularly for providers in rural and remoteareas where there is a less established tradition of education, training and research, lessinvestment and less infrastructure to support these activities as well as higher costsassociated providing clinical placements.

Universities play an essential role in training future health professionals of the region tomeet health workforce needs, strengthening the economy and building vital diplomaticlinks internationally.

Northern Australia is leading the country in developing and delivering a number ofhealth service and health workforce innovations to meet health needs in the region. Thisincludes building rural pipelines in medicine, expanding scopes of practice for healthpractitioners, smart use of technology including telehealth, and promoting rural andremote generalist specialists across all health professional groups.

Northern Australia is well-placed to develop its health service and health workforceinnovation expertise as an export, particularly to Asia.

Authors’ Recommendations

Establish and strengthen inter-sectoral and cross jurisdictional partnerships to provideaccessible, effective and efficient health services across northern Australia through East-West governance arrangements and regional partnerships.


Employ strategies that develop an appropriate health workforce for northern Australiaand the region, including creating and further developing education and clinical traininghubs and East-West arrangements that transcend jurisdictional barriers.

Reform resourcing and governance models across jurisdictions and sectors in northernAustralia.

The relationship between workforce mobility, liveability and development innorthern AustraliaProfessor John Rolfe, School of Business and Law, Central Queensland University.

Findings

There are risks that northern Australia will only capture the direct economic andemployment impacts of further major developments, and that the larger indirect andsocial benefits of development will be transferred to major urban or southern centres.

Minimising these risks will involve attention to policy in the following areas:- regional business chains;- regional specialisation and concentration; and- liveability and lifestyle factor to attract new population to key centres.

Human Services sector development in northern AustraliaProfessor Hurriyet Babacan, School of Health, University of New England, Founding Director,The Cairns Institute, James Cook University.

Findings Northern Australia is diverse, vast and sparsely populated. Most of northern Australia

fits within the characterisation as regional, rural and remote. There is evidence to indicate a correlation between spatial location and disadvantage.

The data identifies northern Australia as having significant levels of socio-economicdisadvantage, particularly Indigenous disadvantage.

The data on welfare expenditures is patchy with major gaps in it. Existing data showshistorical under-investment by Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territoryin health, human and social services. There is ample evidence from around the world toindicate that social investment in welfare and human services yields much biggereconomic and social returns on the investment and has strong correlations with increasedprosperity and productivity.

Service delivery in northern Australia is very different due to a number of factors and ismore expensive to deliver. There are major challenges to the sector in relation toservice gaps, workforce issues and funding. While there are models of service deliveryin regional, rural and remote areas there is no evidence about what works best innorthern Australia. The capacity to be proactive and responsive to needs and to takepreventative approaches is critical. This will not happen unless sustainability issues areaddressed.

Governance arrangements in northern Australia are fragmented and lack coordinationand integration. Human service policies and funding are centralised and driven by theAustralian, state and territory Governments which are not easy to influence from adistance. As a result, they are disconnected with what happens in the regions ofnorthern Australia and policy/governance. This results in a loss of ability to beresponsive to local needs and to have integrated and coordinated approaches.


The Human services sector tends to have less secure, part time-casual positions withlower pay levels. There is a shortage of appropriately qualified and experiencedstaff in selected areas across Australia. The recruitment and availability ofappropriate staff becomes more difficult with remoteness. There are professional,personal and community factors that need to be addressed to attract and retainappropriate staff in northern Australia.

Not investing in the human services sector will have major detrimental impacts oncreating liveable communities, development of vibrant economies, opportunities forparticipation, sustainable places, inclusive cultural expression and social cohesion.

Northern Australia continues to experience strong growth in the planning capacity of itseconomic and natural resource sectors, however the social and human services sectorshave not been supported at a strategic level.

Author’s Conclusion

Human service delivery in northern Australia needs to be innovative, flexible anddiverse. It needs to be regionally specific and coordinated and integrated acrossdifferent service agencies in the specific locations. While specialisation is important,narrowly focused one-type of model of service delivery models are unlikely to work innorthern Australia.

Northern Australia will continue to gain significance for Australia as a whole for a rangeof economic, political, social and cultural reasons. A renewed focus in northern Australiawill not succeed if human capital and social issues are not addressed.

Areas that require priority attention include: building an evidence base (i.e. appropriate data); integrated planning, service coordination and relevant policy development; ongoing and secure funding models; and sector capacity building and workforce development: It is critical to document the

nature of workforce and skills issues for the human sector across northern Australia asthere is a critical gap in our knowledge base.

Building an environment conducive to supporting the social and human services sectorsrequires multi-dimensional approach.

What type of future for northern Australia’s tourism sector?Professor Bruce Prideaux, Faculty of Law, Business and Creative Arts, James Cook University.

Findings

The tourism sector is using the region’s natural environment in a sustainable manner. This situation will change in the long-term as the impact of global warming is reflected in

changes in the structure and resilience of the region’s ecosystems. The long-term economic sustainability of the region’s tourism sector is being adversely

affected by the growing mismatch between consumer demand and what the region haschosen to supply.

In the long-term continued over-reliance on the region’s ecosystems to attract tourists islikely to lead to stagnation.

Stagnation can only be overcome with new investment targeted at new markets andoffering new experiences. Several proposed integrated resorts in the Cairns region(Aquis Resort and Ella Bay Resort) exemplify the type of large-scale investment thatmay be required to reignite tourist demand.


The Chinese market offers significant potential for growth throughout the study regionbut the types of experiences currently offered will need refreshing to attract this market.

The need for new activities and experiences to augment the study region’s current suiteof environmental experiences has not been widely recognised.

The ongoing health of the region’s ecosystem is closely tied to the health of the region’stourism economy.

Author’s Recommendation

There is a need to reappraise the long-term direction of the tourism sector in northernAustralia. The key steps required are:- determine a vision based either on maintaining the status quo or embarking on

growth;- establish a mechanism for co-ordinating tourism strategies; and- establish a regionally based research group to provide region relevant analysis.

One option is to establish a region wide monitoring system able to produceregular reports based on data collected in the region as well as externally.

Northern Australia Agriculture Policy: Opportunities and RisksJim Turnour, Adjunct Research Fellow, The Cairns Institute, James Cook University. PhDCandidate, Northern Futures Collaborative Research Network, The Cairns Institute, James CookUniversity.

Findings

There are opportunities for new developments in northern Australia and to leveragegreater value from established agriculture industries. This will require additionalinvestment to develop new markets, supply chains and farming systems.

Development of policy needs to be able to respond to the different opportunities andrisks presented by the diversity of regions and communities in northern Australia. Place-based regional development approaches provide one way to achieve this by engaginglocal communities in planning and development based on regional competitiveadvantage.

Applying place-based approaches to agricultural development in northern Australiawould align agriculture policy with natural resource management and Indigenous policyapproaches.

Author’s Recommendations

Place-based agricultural development approaches be adopted so as to identify andleverage regional competitive advantages and to ensure effective industry andcommunity engagement in decision making.

Agricultural development in northern Australia be driven by markets and supply chainswith a particular focus on developing niche high quality markets for Asia rather thanAustralia’s traditional focus on increasing productivity within bulk commodity markets.

Agricultural development requires secure access to resources including land and water.Tenure reform may be required to support development and conservation needs. Stategovernments should use market mechanisms to allocate water resources allowing smallermosaic developments to compete fairly against larger agricultural developments.


That established industries, not just green field developments, be a focus of northernAustralia agricultural development.

Where major green field agriculture developments are considered, decisions should bebased on sound economic, environmental and social impact assessments not driven bypopulous narratives about northern food bowls.

Themes in development of the agricultural and resource sectors in northernAustraliaProfessor John Rolfe, School of Business and Law, Central Queensland University.

Findings

Agricultural development will require private enterprises to be enterprising andsuccessful. The author has identified six key principles for private sector investment.- Access to resources and certain property rights are essential to attract new

investment. Access includes both the physical access to land, water and capitalresources, as well as better information about the extent, quality and availabilityof those resources.

- Financial returns are the key driver of investment and production decisions.Reliable and improved access to markets is required to underpin any agriculturaldevelopment.

- Control over costs is essential to the longer term performance of an industry.Agriculture has little ability to pass on increases in input costs, so key policypriorities should be to limit cost increases.

- Ongoing improvements in productivity are required to make sectors viable in theface of longer term declines in the terms of trade. Improvements in productivitycan be generated in a number of ways through better efficiencies in the supplychain as well as improvements at the enterprise level.

- Risks and uncertainties need to be minimised. This can be achieved in a number ofways, through provision of rigorous planning, better information, and ongoingresearch programs to improve productivity.

- Investment priorities should be analysed in rigorous and transparent ways.Economic evaluation should be conducted for all proposed developments, usingtools such as cost benefit analysis. This will help to prioritise the proposals thatdeliver the largest public and private returns, ensure public investments generatepositive returns, and provide transparency of analysis for industry and decisionmakers.

Key limitations for the development of the agriculture and resource sectors areavailable soil and water resources, climate, access to markets, lack of infrastructure, andenvironmental and land use constraints.


Education futures in northern AustraliaProfessor Sue McGinty, School of Indigenous Australian Studies, Dr Claire Campbell, School ofEducation, Dr Margaret Carter, School of Education, Ms Helen McDonald, School of Education,James Cook University.

Findings Whilst there has been progress and increased enrolments in kindergarten and

preparatory settings across northern Australia, the issue of high quality education andcare for children under 4-years-old prevails. There are limited affordable places foryoung children in high quality child care centres that are conveniently located and thesector experiences difficulty in securing and retaining high quality, qualified staff due tolow wages.

A fundamental challenge for schools in northern Australia, is the provision and retentionof quality teachers.

Whilst Australia faces significant Early Childhood Education and Care issues nation-wide, northern Australia is further challenged by high percentages of vulnerablechildren, high Indigenous populations and remote locations.

The building of social and cultural capital of the young people of northern Australia isessential for long-term development.

The most effective educational interventions are those in the early years. The growth of northern Australia will need to take into consideration the educational

aspects of good living, not just education for industry purposes. Good schools willattract people who will stay and contribute to the economy.

Authors’ recommendation

Develop northern Australia-specific Early Childhood Education and Care centres as‘Early Years Hubs’ that offer services that go beyond the typical long day care centreand/or kindergarten setting.

Primary & Secondary Education

Resource and sustain a cross cultural global educational hub with:- world class facilities for education, research and scientific inquiry;- quality national and international training, recruitment and retention of quality

educators to work across rural, remote and metropolitan areas of northernAustralia;

- equitable access to high quality schooling and educational opportunities for allstudents and teacher educators; youth programs targeting alienated anddisengaged individuals within the education system and community;

- sustainable investment in innovative ICTs including ICT infrastructure (e.g. access tohigh capacity broadband); and

- ongoing internationalisation of the national curriculum; global marketisation of thenational curriculum with support for the deployment of educators across the AsiaPacific region and higher education training grounding students in working withculturally rich and diverse students living in the tropics.


Re-imagining post-secondary education as a driver of social and economicdevelopment in northern AustraliaProfessor Drew Dawson, Director, Appleton Institute, Central Queensland University, ProfessorDenise Wood, Central Queensland University, Professor Marie Brennan, Victoria University,Professor Helen Huntley, Central Queensland University.

Findings

Challenges facing industry, post-secondary education providers and communities innorthern Australia include:- a lack of residual development in the North;- reliance on fly-in-fly-out workers as the preferred solution for some industries

instead of investment in building an educated workforce within the region;- recognition by the Australian Government of the need for further investment to

ensure that rural and regional areas of Australia can lead the country in economicrecovery and sustainability;

- the need for investment in the physical (particularly high speed and affordablebroadband services) and social infrastructure to attract and retain a skilled localpopulation;

- resistance to encouraging young people from the community to undertake post-secondary education due to the need for them to relocate to urban centres;

- high levels of attrition of students from these communities who are studying indistance mode; and

- continuing underrepresentation in post-secondary education and lower rates ofsuccess, retention and completion of Aboriginal and Torres Islander students.

There is a need for investment in physical infrastructure of the North and a radicalrevisioning of traditional approaches to post-secondary distance education.

There is a need for dialogue with local communities, industries and Government toexplore the potential of a distributed partnership model, which provides access tofacilities and supports for the members of their communities undertaking post-secondaryeducation within the region.

The cost of not providing access to post-secondary education are likely to undermineinvestment in northern Australia.

Authors’ recommendation

An alternative community-based model for post-secondary education in northernAustralia. This model would allow the educator to go to the community to deliver highquality education through partnerships with local communities, not-for profit andgovernment agencies.

Defence in the three tropical cities: How to sustainably seize the potential?Dr Riccardo Welters, Discipline of Economics, James Cook University.

Findings

In 2012, Defence employed 12,000 permanent members (20 per cent of Australia’spermanent Defence personnel) and a further 1,000 civilian personnel (4 per cent ofAustralia’s civilian Defence personnel) across the three tropical cities - Cairns, Darwinand Townsville.


Defence is part of the economic backbone of these cities (especially in Darwin andTownsville) solidifying the city wage structure and protecting the economy to the ebbsand flows of the business cycle.

The Defence community creates sizeable demand for social infrastructure in the cities,which is not necessarily well resourced in the tropical cities.

The economic interaction of Defence with other industries in a tropical city economyshould be explored more deeply, i.e. the backward and forward linkages betweenDefence and other local and non-local industries.

Lack of data at the city level prevents a holistic analysis of the reliance of the Defencecommunity on social city infrastructure. Such an analysis would compare and contrastdemand and supply for social infrastructure at a city level and could be used tobenchmark social city infrastructure provision in garrison cities. Addressing shortfalls insocial infrastructure safeguards the sustainability of the relationship between Defenceand the tropical cities.

What climate change and cyclones mean for northern AustraliaProfessor Steve Turton, Discipline of Environmental Sciences and Geography, James CookUniversity.

Findings

Air and ocean temperatures are expected to increase in response to increasingGreenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.

We can expect more hot days and fewer cold days in the future. There is uncertainty about how climate change may affect rainfall across northern

Australia due to naturally high rainfall variability but with higher GHG emissions there isevidence that the dry season will be longer and drier while the wet season will remainsimilar.

Extreme rainfall intensity may increase in the future The intensity of tropical cyclones is likely to increase in the future while overall cyclone

frequency may decrease. Sea levels should continue to rise but may vary at the regional level. Frequency and height of storm surges are expected to increase due a combination of

rising sea levels and more intense tropical cyclones. Fire weather conditions are expected to worsen with increased frequency or intensity of

extreme fire days. Solar radiation is expected to decrease in winter (dry season) and spring (wet season

build up), and increase in autumn (monsoon retreat season) under the highestRepresentative Concentration Pathways (RCP) emission scenario; however there is alarge spread of model simulations.

Small decreases in relative humidity are favoured over increases during summer andautumn periods, with little change in winter and increases more likely in spring,especially under the highest RCP scenario.

Evapotranspiration is projected to increase in all seasons. Average wind speeds are expected to increase across eastern areas. Ocean acidity will increase in line with increases in atmospheric CO2.


Author’s recommendations

Adaptation to climate change across northern Australia must engage all of society,including industry sectors, communities and individuals (Turton et al. 2014).

Key priorities for natural resource management and community planning in northernAustralia are:- infrastructure, including roads, ports, coastal structures, water and energy supplies

and commercial and residential buildings at risk due to rising temperatures, risingsea levels and more extreme weather events;

- coastal zones and estuaries and all areas at risk of sea-level rise, storm surges andfloods;

- agriculture, the food supply, and other primary production, including forestry andmining that are highly sensitive to rising temperatures, greater seasonally inrainfall and saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifers due to rising sea levels;

- other climate-dependent industries that will be negatively impacted by risingtemperatures and sea levels, e.g. tourism on the Great Barrier Reef and KakaduNational Park;

- natural environment, including and all the biodiversity within them that is likely tobe highly sensitive to rising temperatures, greater seasonality of rainfall andincreased bush fire risk; and

- biosecurity risk, including weeds, pathogens and exotic tropical diseases that willbenefit from increasing temperatures.

If we are to build ‘pathways’ to climate adaptation across northern Australia we need toposition our natural resource management(NRM) sectors, regions and human communitiesso that they are flexible and ready to adapt to change. This will require the knowledgeand tools to build the necessary biophysical, social and institutional capacity to adapt toclimate change and to inform government policy at all levels.

Economic Equity and Major DevelopmentProfessor Natalie Stoeckl, Faculty of Law, Business & Creative Arts, The Cairns Institute, JamesCook University.

Key Finding There are numerous different ‘projects’ that could be implemented in northern Australia

for the benefit of the region and the country as a whole. If these projects are assessed and implemented as isolated enclaves (Faal, 2007), the

growth that occurs may be uneconomic (Daly and Farley 2004) in that the costs ofachieving such growth (including those associated with increased inequality) may exceedthe benefits.

Projects could be selected on their ability to reduce inequalities (or, at the very least, notto exacerbate them) by forging strong financial links with existing residents andbusinesses of the north.


Author’s Recommendations

Institutional reforms – particularly those relating to the ownership of core assets such asland and water. This may be particularly important for Indigenous people.

Community consultation processes (prior to projects being approved) that arespecifically designed to identify opportunities for local residents and businesses to forgefinancial connections with project proponents.

Developing programs that support the development of small business to supply goods and services to large-scale projects. This includes the need to

developing long-term programs which initially involve training, education and workexperience, but which would evolve over time, culminating in the situation whereparticipants took over management, and then ownership of businesses that supply thegoods and/or services to the large-scale developments.

Positive Discrimination Policies for large-scale projects – specifically designed to favour‘local’ or marginalised employees or suppliers.

Land Tenure and development in northern AustraliaProfessor Allan Dale, The Cairns Institute, James Cook University and Bruce Taylor, CSIRO.

Key Findings Features of land tenure and its administration in northern Australia that make it both

complex and unique (JCU and CSIRO, 2013):- there are multiple and often overlapping tenure types for the same area of land;- administrative arrangements for land tenure and classifications of similar tenure

types vary across State and Territory jurisdictions;- for potential investors, multiple interactions are often required with government to

gather the tenure-related information to assess sovereign risk and implementtenure change;

- there are new and emergent tenures or changes to rights related to assets such aswater, carbon and biodiversity. Tenure regimes related to these assets areuncertain and evolving; and

- some of these tenures co-exist with other tenures, creating circumstances in whichthere are multiple, overlapping and possibly contested entitlement.

- The opportunity for reform in land tenure to drive diverse investment in thesustainable development of northern Australia is significant.

Changes to the way tenure issues are managed could reduce conflict and encouragemore optimal use and management of the north’s natural resources, while also protectingthe rights of interests of traditional owners.

Potential new reforms could also enable land owners to sequester and manage vitalecosystem services such as water, biodiversity and carbon while providing additionaleconomic development opportunities.

It is also important to understand that while tenure is an important consideration, it isonly one of a number of factors that may impede investment. Infrastructure, distance tomarket, land values and terms of trade all have significant weight in investmentdecisions.

The case for improving tenure arrangements in northern Australia is compelling, but thechallenge in doing so is substantial, requiring significant cross-jurisdictional cooperationand national investment in R&D. It will not happen quickly.

Tenure reform in the north must essentially preserve the rights of, and createopportunities for the north’s traditional owners.


The most significant gains in terms of improving investor certainty, and improvingdevelopment outcomes for northern enterprises and communities, will come fromengaging with the complexity and diversity in land tenure in a constructive and moreinformed ways that recognise the unique mix of land uses, resources, rights and interestsin northern lands.


Reduce tenure complexity through administrative or legislative reform. This could involvesupporting collaborative research and policy development partnerships on critical issuesof investment and financing on Indigenous tenures; developing consistent principles toguide tenure reviews in the different jurisdictions; and, improving the quality andaccessibility of tenure-related data for northern regions.

Improve the efficiency of development assessment and regulation. This could involve,clarifying major project assessment responsibilities between jurisdictions; betterresourced negotiation and streamlined administration of assessment processes; and,resources to assist with tenure-resolution processes that arise following project approval.

Focus on actions to improve the effectiveness of land and resource planning so thatbroader ‘regional’ or ‘landscape’ level signals exist about the preferred infrastructureand resource use futures for different northern regions. Such planning would provide thebroader context in which local level conflicts over tenure can be resolved.

Finding the means by which traditional owners can leverage their land assets to raisecapital for social and economic development offers great national and local benefit.Support is required to progress policy options which will have general applicability totraditional owners across northern Australia including:- progressively resolving ongoing native title/land claim issues;- supporting and resourcing the capacity of traditional owners to develop country-

based/land use planning across their estate, township-based land use planning,and wealth generation strategies;

- exploring further the most appropriate tenure and financial mechanisms forfacilitating investment leverage (within Indigenous land estates);

- supporting traditional owners to explore new and innovative governance modelsfor managing aspirational/country-based planning and “wealth funds” emergingfrom economic development;

- exploring some form of northern Australian “guarantee or trust fund” to supporttraditional owners with sound business investment projects to secure commercialfinance, funded either from amendment to existing or new government funds,private sector investment or innovative investment of local traditional owner-basedsovereign wealth funds at local scale; and

- pan-northern partnering with lending institutions to build investment confidence.


Aboriginal Local Government and Community Sector Partnerships –Sustainable Employment in Northern DevelopmentPatrick Sullivan, Associate Professor Research, Nulungu Research Institute, University of NotreDame, Australia.

Key Findings

The foundation for social, economic and cultural development in the north lies inAboriginal communities. These communities should receive the necessary services tobring them to acceptable levels of development.

This can increase Aboriginal employment, and therefore income, leading to thenecessary conditions for sustainable local economies, particularly small-scale commercialenterprises.

Aboriginal development can be pursued through greater involvement with localgovernments and changes to the fiscal arrangements that disadvantage Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander people.

The social development of the north can be addressed by reviewing currentCommonwealth Grants Commission funding formulas, both for the Goods and ServicesTax (GST) and local government assistance. In addition, direct Commonwealth grants tolocal government also need to be clarified.

The Indigenous sector has great potential for meeting priority development goals fornorthern Australia through the personal development, training and employment ofAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals.

Aboriginal organisations and local governments are important employers of Aboriginalpeople in northern Australia.

The network of Aboriginal community service organisations has evolved to fulfil almostevery aspect of Aboriginal services with, in many cases, up to three or four decades ofexperience in the field.


There is opportunity to support the long-term permanent population of the north through:- reform of formulas and funding mechanisms for local government;- alliances between local governments, state/territory governments, and Aboriginal-

controlled service organisations; and- new models for public service employment in Aboriginal towns, villages and

settlements.

i Rethinking the future of northern Australia's regions


Contributed Papers

The papers on the following pages have been prepared by the northern universities: JamesCook University (JCU); Central Queensland University (CQU); the University of Notre DameAustralia (UNDA); and Ninti One.

These papers explore the themes of health, human services, tourism, agriculture, education,defence, climate change, land tenure and economic equity and major development.


Understanding the characteristics of remote Northern Australia for successfulpolicy development

Unlocking the potential of Northern Australia is hardly a new concept. Proposed schemes todevelop the north have been put forward throughout the 20th Century and at times, gainedpolitical momentum. However, to date, attempts to realise the dreams for the north expressedover many years have failed. In June 2013, the Coalition, prior the September Federalelection released their 2030 Vision for Developing Northern Australia with a commitment toproduce a comprehensive White Paper. Since in government, the Coalition has established theJoint Select Committee on Northern Australia, the Northern Australia Strategic Partnership andproduced a Green Paper, which builds on the pre-election 2030 vision paper. The GreenPaper sets out the Government’s views on the major challenges and opportunities facingnorthern Australia, and the policy directions that could tackle them.

This discussion paper aims at contributing to the debate by focusing on the issues, challengesand opportunities, which are specific to remote and very remote areas. We believe asuccessful development of Northern Australia requires the inclusion and participation of remoteAustralians. Without their inclusion and participation in growing the north, government andprivate sector initiatives will unlikely achieve their full potential. Indeed, Northern Australia,apart from a handful of regional cities (Townsville, Cairns, Darwin, Mackay, Rockhampton andAlice Springs) and a diverse group of small towns, mostly comprises very remote areas, whichinclude diverse settlements: pastoral, farming, mining, tourism and predominantly Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander communities.

To date, most Federal, State and Territory government policies, initiatives and programs havenot realised the full potential of remote areas. A shift in policy development andimplementation is required to stimulate and achieve economic and social developmentoutcomes in remote areas and especially in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander remotecommunities. This paper explores how by understanding the characteristics of remote NorthernAustralia and focusing on developing local solutions, successful policies can be developed toincrease remote economic participation and grow Northern Australia.

The poor understanding of the complexity and integrated nature of the ‘empty north’ bygovernments and policy makers has led not only to unrealised economic opportunities but tothe failure of addressing the worrying disparity of health, social and economic outcomesbetween remote residents and the rest of the population. Indeed, despite Northern Australia’snatural advantages and existing strength, particularly in agriculture, mining and energy,remote Australians living in the north continue to have lower incomes, lower employment rates,and lower education attainment than the rest of Australians. These trends are exacerbated inAboriginal and Torres Islander population. The ‘Desert Syndrome’i, a concept developedunder Ninti One co-funded research asserts that remote Australia is characterised by a set offeatures that are not individually unique but which together causes it to function in ways thatare fundamentally different to any other physical and social environments. Understandingthese characteristics and how they interact together will assist with the development ofsuccessful policies and initiatives for Northern Australia.

Jan Ferguson, Managing Director, Ninti One Limited and Apolline Kohen, Senior Policy Adviser,Ninti One Limited.


Climate variability, scarce resources, sparse population, remoteness from markets and politicalpower, social variability, limited research knowledge and cultural differences are the corecommon features of remote areas in Australia. Acting individually these may not be significantbut collectively they are. This implies that addressing in isolation the challenges associated witheach of these characteristics may prove counterproductive and is unlikely to achieve desiredoutcomes. A holistic approach is required and must take into account local circumstances, whichare often complex and poorly understood by policymakers who have no or little experienceof the realities and daily challenges experienced by remote residents. Recognition that localcircumstances are complex is critical.

The fact that policies and programs aimed at developing remote areas have often beenengineered far away from the communities themselves has been recognised by governmentsas a contributing factor to disappointing results on the ground. In recent years, attempts toconsult remote residents, especially in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, haveled to ‘drop in drop out’ types of community consultations, which have often not proveneffective and achieved very little. Mostly it has left residents with meeting fatigue and afrustrating sense of their voices not been heard or understood. Importantly, it has failed tosignificantly change the social and economic circumstances of people on the ground andimprove economic participation. Indeed, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employmentrates remain low in remote communities with the employment to population ratio at about45%. Furthermore, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in the largest sectors inNorthern Australia, namely mining, agriculture, government services and tourism, remains verylow. A common assumption, which needs to be challenged is that there are no real jobs inremote areas and that the few jobs available require levels of education, which mostAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander remote residents do not have. Our recent research paintsa very different picture. Our CRC-REP Remote Education Systems and Pathways toEmployment projects have recently completed an analysis of 2011 Census Place ofEnumeration data for Very Remote Regions. Findings demonstrate that they are plenty of realjobs in remote Australia but that over 90% of them are taken by non-Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander people. Our research also shows that training and qualifications are not pre-requisite to engagement in employment in remote Australia as 44% of all employees have notcompleted a Certificate or higher qualification. Similarly, 41% of all employees had not gonebeyond Year 10 at school. For example, the mining industry, which operates mostly in remoteareas and is a key industry in the north, has a large pool of workers (36%) with no more thanYear 10 qualifications. We can only conclude that other factors are at play and wouldbenefit to be unpacked in the context of the development of the north. Based on populationnumber, occupation and ownership of land, we believe the success of Northern Australiadevelopment will ultimately depend and rely on an increased Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander participation in the economy. Their continued occupation of land in very remote areaswill also be essential to ensure appropriate land management practices occur to enableleverage of the rich natural advantages present in the north. Incentives and policies toencourage remote residents to move to regional centres to take jobs are not desirable in thecontext of developing the north. Indeed, the management of the rich natural environment ofnorth to support key existing and emerging industries such as the pastoral, agriculture, tourism,energy and carbon economy industries is essential and remote communities are best placedand have the local knowledge to do it.


How can government policies and incentives better assist development in remote areas? Andwhat mechanisms can be put in place for the development of policies and programs that willbetter work?

Conventional regional development policy thinking and approaches are unlikely to be anagent of change. Government policies and programs to improve service delivery and to setupa conducive environment for economic participation in remote Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander communities need a new approach. Such approach should be based on therecognition of the complex and interrelated features of remote Australia and the need fordeveloping with local residents tailored solutions. Genuine and strong local involvement isparamount. Strong consultation mechanisms need to be put in place and practice. It requiresmore than quick ‘drop in drop out’ consultation processes and meetings with ‘communityleaders’ to find out what may work or is best for local residents. Our research shows thateffective community engagement in the design and delivery of government programs andinitiatives significantly improves outcomes. A few initiatives have been successful and need tobe considered here. Whilst they have been mostly happening on a small scale, we believe it ispossible to learn from them and apply the methodology more systematically to develop andsetup policy directions.

Our research and community development approaches at Ninti One is based on ourknowledge that sustainable, healthy and viable remote communities depend on theparticipation, ownership and partnership of the people who live in remote regions andcommunities. This is why Participatory Action Research (PAR) methods are integral to our work.The innovation is that we use teams of local Aboriginal Community Researchers (ACR) to workin all our research and community development projects. ACRs are based in remote andregional communities and are essential in our research and evaluation teams. They assist in thedesign of the research and then, conduct on the ground the research, participate in theanalysis and finally test and provide feedback to the communities. They can also contribute toachieve better results in implementation and monitoring phases. The ACRs are trained andemployed by Ninti One and supported by the staff and Ninti One corporate structure. ACRscan deliver better quality research outcomes than most external researchers because of theirunique competitive advantage based around location and local knowledge. They use avariety of skills, such as languages, cultural concepts and local knowledge that no outsider isequipped with. This leads to collection of better information, which translates into successfuland ethical research and applications outcomes that have positive impacts on employment,education and delivery of services in remote communities. Aboriginal Community Researcherscan significantly improve the design and implementation of government policies in remoteareas. ACRs are involved in a variety of Ninti One projects at present including CRC-REPresearch and consultancies for organisations as well as the NT and Federal governments.

The following example demonstrates how ACRs can assist in improving service deliveryoutcomes and foster new initiatives in communities. In 2012, the then Department of Families,Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCHSIA) commissioned Ninti One toconduct Strenghtening Community Research on Remote Service Delivery project in thecommunities of Ntaria, Yuendumu, Amata, Mimili and Lajamanu. The projects worked withmembers of each community on a particular research topic, chosen by them, to contributethrough the research program to the implementation of Local Implementation Plans. The ACRsat Ntaria chose to work on safe driving and vehicle safety issues to improve community safety


and reduce number of road accidents and driving related offences. The ACRs conducted asurvey on safe driving and ran focus groups and photo elicitation on vehicle safety. The surveyinstrument was designed by the ACRs with the assistance of a Ninti One Senior Researcher.Then, they used new technology (iPad) to conduct the survey in the community. Trends thatemerged from the survey included showed that 61% of the survey respondents felt theirdriving was sometimes less than safe and that 78% of them would drive when it is unsafe. Afurther 46% of respondents felt the car they drive is not always roadworthy. These trendsneeded to be considered in light of several facts: there is no mechanical workshop, tyre repairstation or access to vehicle tools and equipment at Ntaria and the closest place to go forrepairs and maintenance is Alice Springs, some 130 kilometres away. Additionally, at thetime, there was no public transport around the community or outstations and no public busservice to Alice Springs. The ACRs presented the survey findings summary of focus groupdiscussions to their Local Reference Group (Wurla Nyinta) with the following recommendations:a) investigating how a local driving school at Ntaria might be progressed; b) running thedriver rehabilitation program at Ntaria instead of Alice Springs where currently delivered c)staringt broad community discussion about the relationship between vehicle maintenance,driver attitudes and safe driving at Ntaria. This research proved relevant to a communityneed and gained full engagement of the community. The ACRs delivered a detailed reportii

about safe driving, which has informed Government about the community needs for onsitedriving training services and the establishment of a garage. It also created furtheremployment opportunities for the ACRs involved in the project. The team was subsequentlyengaged by FaHCSIA to work on the Local Cultural Awareness Program (LCAP) and theMobility Research Project of CRC-REP employed the research team to work on their pilotconsultation. Furthermore, one of the ACRs gained employment with the Strehlow ResearchCentre in Alice Springs. Different topics were picked in the other communities participating inStrenghtening Community Research on Remote Service Delivery projects, reflecting localdifferences and circumstances. In the other communities, the ACRs too, at completion of theproject, gained other employment opportunities with organisations such as Housing SA andTjala Arts. Interestingly at Lajamanu, it led to the development of the Local CommunityAwareness Program as a local business.

Using the ACR model is a proven effective community consultation mechanism. In order todevelop innovative policies, we believe the ACR model can assist policy formulation foreconomic development in Northern Australia. For example, the ACR could be used to explorethe critical issue of how we can accommodate better Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanderemployees in the workplace, including in the public sector. Standard offerings do not workand there is a need to articulate a new and creative way of framing employment.Importantly, ACRs can assist with improving service delivery models in remote communities.

We believe the development of the north will be constrained or undermined if remotecommunities are not involved in developing the plan for action and its implementation. Theopportunity is there to get it right as policy directions and the White Paper are still indevelopment. A holistic approach is required for ensuring that the remote and very remoteareas of the north are not left behind. We must avoid a ‘one size fits all’ approach anddevelop local solutions, which recognise the unique social and environmental localcircumstances of communities and are aligned with residents’ needs and aspirations.


This can only be achieved with a ‘whole of system’ approach and strong communityengagement. A ‘whole-of-system’ approach will enable the understanding of the key driversand causes of the economic challenges in remote areas and to identify successful methods toovercome them. Active collaborations between all levels of governments and Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander communities to develop a sustainable plan for improving servicedelivery, employment, education and safety outcomes in remote areas is essential and can beachieved in using the ACR model. Initiatives that involve people from the beginning increasechances to have major risks identified early and lead to more sustainable outcomes.

i Mark Stafford Smith. The ‘desert syndrome’ – causally-linked factors that characterise outback Australia, TheRangeland Journal 30(1) 3–14, 2008ii Strengthening Community Research in Remote Service Delivery at Ntaria, Ninti One, 2012http://www.nintione.com.au/resource/Ntaria_FaHCSIA_ProjectReportFinal.pdf


Underpinning development: Health and health workforce in Northern AustraliaSR Davis; Alex Edelman and Dr Felicity Croker, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Science, James CookUniversity.

The renewed focus on Northern Australia as an economic development zone recognises its uniqueproximity to Asia in the Asia-Pacific century and its position within the fastest growing global zone: TheTropics. Northern Australia is recognised as vital to Australia’s future economic development over the next30 years.1-3 With sustained policy and political commitment, Northern Australia has the capacity to be theleading provider of health professional training, public health research and innovative health service modelsfor the region internationally.2-4

Achieving this vision and future-proofing Northern Australia’s capacity within the Tropics worldwide andthroughout the Asia-Pacific century requires recognition that the future success of an EconomicDevelopment Zone must be underpinned by a healthy and productive population. This population needs tobe supported by a health system that can respond to significant demographic and epidemiologicaltransitions, including population ageing and the global epidemic of non-communicable diseases.5

Northern Australia has the potential to be a leader in health systems innovation and health workforcetraining in the Tropics worldwide, leading to significant health, social and economic benefit to bothAustralia and its near neighbours.3 With appropriate policy and political support, this region can build on asubstantial base of existing capacity and expertise in health, education and research sectors.

This paper outlines the critical health challenges facing Northern Australia, provides an overview of the raftof health and health workforce reforms that are leading to improved health outcomes, and makesrecommendations for future actions based on key opportunities in the region.

Northern Australia: The Context

According to Health Workforce Australia:

‘There is a big divide between the health of metropolitan Australia and that of Australiansliving in rural and remote areas. There is also a dichotomy in terms of the health servicesavailable. In essence, if you live in rural or remote Australia your health will on average bepoorer, and your access to health services more limited, a trend which worsens withincreasing remoteness'1 (p.6)

However, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare notes that: “On the positive side, Australiansliving in rural areas generally have higher levels of social cohesiveness—for example, higher rates ofparticipation in volunteer work and feelings of safety in their community.” 2 (p.24)

Health in Northern Australia¡ reflects a combination of unique geographic and demographic factors. Whilethe tropical cities of Cairns, Townsville and Darwin are uniquely positioned as thriving hubs servicing the

¡

Northern Australia is defined as being above the Tropic of Capricorn by GNARTN Council. This is consistent with thedefinition provided by the Joint Select Committee into the development of Northern Australia


region, the remainder of Northern Australia is classified as rural or remote,ⁱⁱ representing approximatelyone third of Australia’s outer regional and remote population.8 Northern Australia’s population of 1.3million people is distributed across a vast geographic area, and only four out of the 74 Local GovernmentAreas have populations of over 100,000 people. Northern Australia also encompasses around 30% of thenation’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.9

People living in rural and remote parts of Australia are at risk of poorer health status, shorter lives, higherrates of accident and injury, greater levels of illness, and lower rates of certain medical treatments.Mortality and hospitalisation rates , and prevalence of health risk factors, generally increase, and access tohealth services becomes more limited, with increasing remoteness.6,8,10 This is compounded for IndigenousAustralians within the northern region.5 Their health outcomes are significantly worse when compared witheither non Indigenous Australians within the same region or with other Indigenous Australians living inurban areas. Health in Northern Australia also encompasses tropical, exotic and infectious disease,necessitating consideration of biosecurity, relationships with neighbouring countries and peoplemovements across the northern border. 3,5 10

Multiple political, social and economic factors contribute to the health disadvantage experienced by peopleliving in rural and remote communities, including population transience, high capital costs of infrastructure,and workforce recruitment and retention difficulties.11These factors are compounded by significantgeographical challenges in delivering accessible, affordable and appropriate health care services to lowpopulation densities, in small settlements and across large distances.

Accordingly, health care in Northern Australia has evolved unique characteristics and strengths, including amultidimensional practice environment requiring generalist (rather than specialist) skills and training.Health practitioners working in remote areas work in a cross-cultural context, serve small, dispersed andoften highly mobile populations, operate in a physical environment of climatic extremes and contend withgeographical, professional and often social isolation.6 Many of these characteristics present uniquechallenges for health service providers and policy makers, with the following being highlighted in theProductivity Commission Report into Australia’s Health Workforce:12

Limited access to supporting health professionals, facilities and locum services; Lesser availability of continuing professional development; Lower housing standards; and More restricted education and employment opportunities for other family members.

One of the most pressing and persistent health challenges in northern Australia is the geographicmaldistribution of health professionals, meaning shortages in rural and remote areas. The Review ofAustralian Government Health Workforce Programs (Mason Review)4 identified maldistribution as the mostsignificant health workforce issue, finding ‘inadequate or non-existent service provision’ in rural, remoteand Indigenous communities, populations of extreme disadvantage and some outer metropolitancommunities; coexisting with oversupply in other areas for some health professions.4,6,10 The undesirableoutcomes of workforce shortages and maldistribution, including poor access, unmet need, poorer healthoutcomes for patients, overworked health professionals and expensive strategies to address immediateworkforce shortages by government have long been recognised.6,13

ⁱBased on the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Australian Standard Geographical Classification Remoteness Areaclassification, the term ‘rural and remote’ encompasses Inner regional, Outer regional, Remote or Very remote geographical areas.


A trend towards specialisation and sub-specialisation within the medical profession has also resulted in ashortage of medical generalists, and the high dependence on migration of international healthprofessionals, particularly to remedy health workforce shortages in rural and remote areas, is predicted tocontinue.14 There is now broad acknowledgement that a ‘business as usual’ approach to health workforcedevelopment in Australia is unsustainable.14 Nation-wide challenges accompanying sustained growth in thedemand for health services and ageing of the population and workforce are also relevant to NorthernAustralia. Continuing health disparities and health workforce challenges across Northern Australia havedriven significant health system and health workforce innovation and reform in recent years.

Innovation and reform of health care and health workforce in northern Australia

Successive administrations at commonwealth, state and territory level have sought to address thecomplexity of providing health care to those rural and remote populations most in need, but many havebeen unsuccessful. Although significant challenges remain, the lessons learned from past initiatives andcurrent policy successes position northern Australia as a leader in innovative health and health workforcepolicy to meet the needs of a diverse and dispersed population.

Service models and models of care to provide high quality patient care in rural and remote areas aredifferent from those in larger communities, and while rural and remote heterogeneity means that no singlemodel of service can be applied, exemplars provide a basis for future development of service models.11

Recognising the benefits of local innovation and governance to meet local health needs, the NationalHealth Reform Agreement of 2011 provided for the establishment of Local Hospital Networks (LHNs), withthe aim of delivering better access to services, improved local accountability and transparency and greaterresponsiveness to local communities. Ten are located within Northern Australia (wholly or in part).ⁱⁱⁱ

Decentralised hospital and health service management within the LHNs is provided for by local governancearrangements so that the health services located in Northern Australia will be more responsive to localneeds and challenges.

To meet health workforce challenges, Health Workforce Australia4 was established by the Council ofAustralian Governments (COAG) through the 2008 National Partnership Agreement on Hospital and HealthWorkforce Reform. HWA’s mandate was to deliver a national coordinated approach to create healthworkforce able to meet the current and future healthcare needs of all communities. HWA developed asignificant array of programs to address some of the challenges in health workforce development acrossAustralia, including innovative rural and remote workforce reform strategies.6 HWA as a statutory authorityhas been abolished, but many of its functions and programs are continuing through consolidation withinthe Commonwealth Department of Health.

One of HWA’s key programs, the Clinical Training Funding (CTF) program, provides significant and welcomeinvestment to increase clinical placement capacity across the health professions, including expandingopportunities in private placement settings. However, an unforseen consequence of the payment of fees to

ⁱⁱⁱ These have evolved into various entities with Hospital and Health Services (HHS) in Queensland; Health Districts in the NorthernTerritory and Health Networks in Western Australia.


placement providers for the clinical training of health professional students was the creation of anexpectation of continuing payment from universities for placements across the health disciplines at theHWA rate. Currently, there is significant variation in the rate charged by placement providers across healthservices, jurisdictions and discipline areas. This is a significant challenge facing the health and highereducation sectors across Australia, and particularly for providers in rural and remote areas where there is aless established tradition of education, training and research, less investment and less infrastructure tosupport these activities as well as high costs associated providing clinical placements in this context.However, there is recognition of the vital role that Northern Australian universities working in partnershipwith health service providers play as clinical education and training institutions. Further, the potential forcollaborative Academic Health Research Centres is also is emerging.6,15 Future policy directions mustaddress these trends and capitalise on the available opportunities to grow the health workforce and buildtropical expertise.

The Greater Northern Australia Regional Training Network (GNARTN) was established in 2012iv and hascommenced work to build and enhance clinical placement and health workforce capacity across northernAustralia. GNARTN is a partnership between the Director Generals of WA, QLD and NT Health Departments,and has demonstrated the benefits, including efficiency gains, of East–West collaboration between allparties involved in health professional training: governments, NGOs and higher education providers. In2013, GNARTN, through a shared investment and governance model delivered a range of initiatives at aprice point that allowed a higher return on the investment made by the individual jurisdiction.

Northern Australia is leading the country in developing and delivering a number of health service andhealth workforce innovations to meet health needs, including:

Building rural pipelines, or the continuum of training in rural or remote areas, in medicine (fromrecruitment to graduation, to junior doctor training, to employment as a junior doctor and on tovocational training in a medical speciality including general practice). Key recommendations of theMason Review centre on the imperative to create coherent pathways for rural and regional educationand training, particularly generalist medical training, with more appropriate resource allocation tonursing, midwifery, allied health and dentistry.4 There is strong evidence from within the data onmedical training at undergraduate level, junior doctor and vocational training that by supporting ruraland remote service providers and health professional trainees with accommodation and travel,supervision capacity and peer support while on rural and remote clinical placement, many healthprofessionals return to rural and remote areas following graduation. Supporting the articulation ofrural training pipelines across the health professions is an important health workforce initiative andremains a critical area for further investment.

Expanding scopes of practice for health practitioners. Rural and remote clinical practice in Australiaalready has established traditions of multidisciplinary team based approaches to health care,including delegation, expanded scope of practice roles or nurse practitioners, midwives, practicenurses, enrolled nurses, remote area nurses, rural pharmacists, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanderhealth workers or practitioners, rural paramedics and lay health care assistants. There is significantscope for expanded scopes of practice of other registered health professionals to address workforce

V For information on GNARTN governance and scope see www.gnartn.org.au


shortages and help to ensure that the evolving abilities of all members of the health care team can befully applied.

Smart use of technology, supported by the integrated telehealth system, point of care testing and‘tele-supervision’ of students and trainees. The availability of broadband technology supported byeffective models of care which utilise the existing rural and remote health workforce, has thecapacity to reduce cost of service while providing high quality care to rural and remote patients. WAand QLD have already made significant advances in telehealth models of care. For example, QLD hasbeen piloting a telehealth supported model to deliver treatment and ongoing care to rural clientswith cancer without them having to travel into the major urban centres. In Western Australia, the WACountry Health Service has been effectively using videoconferencing to support nurses dealing withmedical emergencies in small rural communities, thus providing immediate access to specialists whocan support the rural practitioner in complex cases.

Promoting rural and remote generalist specialists across all health professional groups, based on themodel offered by rural generalist medicine, which is defined as the provision of a broad scope ofmedical care by a doctor in the rural context. Rural generalist medicine encompasses comprehensiveprimary, hospital and emergency care with a population health approach and within a multi-disciplinary team, and is in contrast to medicine and medical training in major Australian cities, whichhas become increasingly sub-specialised and often shaped by income-earning opportunities ratherthan by community needs. Rural generalism is well established in Queensland, with more recentadoption in the Northern Territory and other jurisdictions.

These areas of health and health workforce innovation and reform, within a cross jurisdictional NorthernAustralian model, are outlined in Table 1.

As highlighted by the Mason Review, the current health reform era represents a shift away from acute caretoward more coherent delivery of connected primary health care, with a focus on prevention and bettermanagement of chronic diseases and on encouraging greater flexibility and productivity.4 This approachoffers many benefits to health care in northern Australia, and underscores the need for continuinginvestment in, and policy support for, key innovations and reforms that meet health care needs in rural andremote areas that are cognizant of demographic and epidemiological transitions.

A healthy population leading Australia in the Asia-Pacific century

Northern Australia continues to establish itself as a leader in innovative health and health workforce policyto meet the needs of a diverse and dispersed population. Domestically, a healthy population means thatthere is healthy and productive workforce available to industry and business to underpin economicdevelopment. Looking further afield, Northern Australia is well placed to develop these areas of expertiseas an export commodity. Northern Australia has established significant expertise in responding to disasters,managing tropical diseases, and developing strategies to prevent and managing chronic diseases. Combinedwith significant experience in rural and remote health workforce development and health systeminnovations, Northern Australia also has a lot to offer other nations striving to achieve the goal of universalhealth coverage.16,17

Engagement with Asia in education and health care has enormous strategic significance - efficient andeffective health systems, with equitable foundations, underpin sustainable development, security and


economic growth, benefiting regional stability. In addition, Australia’s reputation as a quality provider ofhealth care within a region in which there is significant growth of a middle class offers significant marketopportunities in health care, including medical tourism.

The contribution of the higher education sector to the health and economic positioning of the region issignificant. Universities in Northern Australia not only train the future health professionals of the region tomeet health workforce needs, they strengthen the economy and build vital diplomatic links internationally.Currently at around $15 billion each year, international education is Australia’s largest export earner afterresources and Australia’s fourth largest export industry. 3

Research into emerging and re-emerging tropical infectious diseases and new models of care and servicedelivery for chronic disease offer the potential for huge economic, social and health benefits to the localregion, the nation and neighbouring countries.

Ongoing investment in health services strengthening, health workforce development and health andmedical research will ensure that Northern Australia is recognised as a global leader in rural, remote andtropical health care and workforce innovation.

There are significant health and economic benefits to developing Northern Australia. To maximise thesebenefits there is a need for sustained bipartisan political commitment to establish a robust NorthernAustralia East-West dialogue. This dialogue should be supported by a governance mechanism that enablescollaboration between the Commonwealth and the WA, NT and QLD governments.

Table 1: Directions of health system and workforce innovation and reform in Northern Australiav

A healthy and productive Northern Australian population to drive economic development in Northern Australia

Cross Jurisdictional Collaborative Model for Improved Health Outcomes

Improve access tohealth services

Health ProfessionalWorkforce Development

Telehealth Reformed Resourcing &Governance Model

v Adapted from the Davis S, Vernon M (2014) GNARTN Submission to the Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia –tabled on the Broome committee meeting


Fair, equitable and universalaccess to health services

Smart use of technology,including telehealth, point of

care testing and ‘tele-supervision’ of students and

trainees

Regional partnershipsbetween government and

non-governmentorganisations to support

continuum of care

Shared specialist healthworkforce in Northern

Australia

Expand roles of practice forhealth professionals –

generalist

Share collaborative healthservice /population health

planning models

Strengthen public health as apreventive mechanism

Strengthen Indigenous andrural and remote primaryhealth care infrastructure

Address mal-distribution of thehealth workforce across

northern Australia

Appropriately educate and trainworkforce for rural/remote

practice

Share and mobilise workforceacross jurisdictions

Share recruitment models

Increase access to specialistworkforce across jurisdictions

Strengthen links between thehealth system and the higher

education sector

Enhance Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander workforce

development opportunities,including health practitioner

workforce

Technology-enabled solutionsto address the significant mal-

distribution of the healthworkforce across rural &

remote northern Australia

Enable greater access andequity to health services

Reduce costs inconvenienceassociated with accessingspecialist health services

Improve access toquality of clinical services

locally available

Access to continuing educationand professional development

for health professional

Networking and collaborationto support workforce retention

Across jurisdictional telehealthservice development and

delivery without geographicalboundaries

Achieving service delivery thatreduces current inequity in

service access and associatedpoor health outcomes.

Northern Australia Governancemechanism to support theadoption of evidence basedmodels across jurisdictions

Legislative and policy alignment(e.g. Harmonised of Drugs and

Poisons regulations)

Co-investment model to reducecost burden and risk, achievinggreater access through greater

equity in resourcing

Integrated research, educationand healthcare, via an Academic

Health Centre combiningresearch, higher education and

health sectors

Cost effective service modelsbased on collaborative service

planning

Models need to recognise thecost of provision of services in

rural and remote environments

Innovative service andworkforce models

Key summary points

- A healthy population means that there is a healthy and productive workforce available to industryand business to underpin economic development;

- Establishing an overarching East-West governance arrangement, supported by a series of alliancesand focussed on the critical issues identified in Table 1, will enhance the region’s capacity to growand develop, with significant benefits for Australia and its near neighbours;

- Health in Northern Australia reflects a combination of unique geographic and demographic factors,including poorer health status (with northern Australia representing approximately one third ofAustralia’s outer regional and remote population), and geographic maldistribution of healthprofessionals, meaning shortages in rural and remote areas;

- In health workforce development, ensuring availability and affordability of clinical training remainsa significant challenge, particularly for providers in rural and remote areas where there is a lessestablished tradition of education, training and research, less investment and less infrastructure tosupport these activities as well as higher costs associated providing clinical placements;


- Universities play an essential role in training future health professionals of the region to meethealth workforce needs, strengthening the economy and building vital diplomatic linksinternationally;

- Northern Australia is leading the country in developing and delivering a number of health serviceand health workforce innovations to meet health needs in the region, including building ruralpipelines in medicine, expanding scopes of practice for health practitioners, smart use oftechnology including telehealth, and promoting rural and remote generalist specialists across allhealth professional groups; and

- Northern Australia is well-placed to develop its health service and health workforce innovationexpertise as an export, particularly to Asia.

On the basis of research evidence and the opportunities discussed in this paper, the followingrecommendations are made for future policy and practices. Implementation of these recommendationsenables strategic investment in the opportunities to build the capacity of the region to develop a healthyand productive population in Northern Australia.

Recommendation 1: Establish and strengthen inter-sectoral and cross jurisdictional partnerships toprovide accessible, effective and efficient health services across Northern Australia through:

East-West governance arrangements that strengthen service delivery and improve efficiency

Regional partnerships between government and non government organisations that:

facilitate collaborative health services planning and modelling

provide an integrated and cooperative continuum of care across services and the regionthat supports the patient journey

effectively address inequities in access to services

collaboratively and inclusively address critical challenges to population health

Recommendation 2: Employ strategies that develop an appropriate health workforce for NorthernAustralia and the region by:

Creating and further developing education and clinical training hubs that: work co-operatively and collaboratively with health service providers across Northern

Australian to grow an appropriate regional, rural and remote health workforce provide affordable, quality clinical experiences for students enable the export of health professional education and clinical training to the Asia – Pacific

region maximise opportunities to implement and evaluate innovative workforce models such as

Indigenous Health Practitioners, Nurse Practitioners and Tropical / Rural Training Pathways provide the expertise to develop rural generalist practitioners with the expanded scope of

practice required in this context provide continuing education and professional development for health professionals

East- West arrangements that transcend jurisdictional barriers and enable◦ implementation of strategies to address the maldistribution of the health workforce


◦ shared specialist health workforce in Northern Australia◦ shared recruitment and retention strategies◦ telehealth service delivery that provide access to networks, support and training without

geographical barriers

Recommendation 3: Reform resourcing and governance models across jurisdictions and sectors inNorthern Australia so as to:

align legislation and harmonise policies, for example around credentialling and Drugs andPoisons regulations

enable co-investment into training, resources and technology-assisted solutions that enableequitable access with a reduced cost burden

developing and evaluating innovative service models and providing cost-effective servicedelivery

integrate research, education and healthcare through Academic Health Centres to buildregional expertise

support and share evidence-based workforce models Strengthen Indigenous and rural and remote primary health care infrastructure

Prioritisation of, and ongoing investment in, health services strengthening, health workforcedevelopment and health and medical research in northern Australia will ensure that the region isrecognised as a global leader in rural, remote and tropical health care and workforce innovation. Thisneeds to be underpinned by an overarching governance arrangement that is focussed on the criticalhealth and health workforce issues in the region. With sustained political commitment to NorthernAustralia, this tropical region has the potential and capacity to be the leading provider of innovativehealth service models, public health research and health professional education.

.


References

1. Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia. Inquiry into the Development of Northern Australia—Interim Report. Canberra: The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia;2014.

2. Davis S, Vernon M. GNARTN Submission to the Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia. –tabled on the Broome committee meeting: GNARTN; 2014.

3. Liberal Party. The Coalition’s 2030 Vision for Developing Northern Australia 2013. https://lpaweb-static.s3.amazonaws.com/Policies/NorthernAustralia.pdf Accessed 29 July 2014.

4. Mason J. Review of Australian Government Health Workforce Programs. Canberra: Department ofHealth, Australian Government ;2013.

5. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australia’s health 2014. Cat. no. AUS 178. Canberra:AIHW;2014.

6. Health Workforce Australia. National Rural and Remote Workforce Innovation and Reform Strategy.Adelaide: Health Workforce Australia; May 2013.

7. Australian Medical Workforce Advisory Committee, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.Medical Workforce Supply and Demand in Australia: A Discussion Paper. AIHW Cat. No. HWL 12.Sydney: AMWAC; 1998.

8. Wakerman J. Defining Remote Health. Aust J Rural Health. 2004;12:210-214

9. Queensland Treasury and Trade, Office of Economic and Statistical Research. Regional Distribution,Census 2011: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population in Queensland. 2013.http://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/products/bulletins/atsi-pop-qld-c11/atsi-pop-qld-c11.pdf. Accessed 29July 2014.

10. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Rural Australians. Australia’s Health 2010. Vol Cat. no.AUS 122.Canberra AIHW; 2010.

11. Humphreys J, Wakerman J, Wells R, Kuipers P, Jones J, Entwistle P. A Systematic Review of PrimaryHealth Care Delivery Models in Rural and Remote Australia 1993-2006. Canberra: AustralianPrimary Health Care Research Institute; September 2006.

12. Productivity Commission. Australia’s Health Workforce. PC;2005.

13. Godwin DM, Hoang H, Crocombe LA, E. B. Dental practitioner rural work movements: a systematicreview. Rural and Remote Health. Accessed 29 July 2014 2014;14(2825):online.

14. Health Workforce Australia. Health Workforce Australia, 2012, A summary of health workforce 2025– Volumes 1 to 3. . Adelaide: HWA;2012.

15. Universities Australia. Universities Australia Pre-Budget Submission 2014-15. Universities Australia;January 2014.

16. United Nations. Universal Health Coverage at the center of sustainable development: contributionsof sciences, technology and innovations to health systems strengthening. 2013;


http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/julyhls/pdf13/concept_paper-uhc_during_ecosoc_amr.pdf. Accessed27 July, 2014.

17. World Health Organisation. Health: essential for sustainable development. 2014;http://www.who.int/universal_health_coverage/un_resolution/en/. Accessed 27 July, 2014.


The relationships between workforce mobility, liveability and developmentin Northern Australia

Background and Scope:

Opportunities for further development in northern Australia, particularly in the agriculture andresources sector, are widely canvassed as mechanisms to generate economic growth in the north.An implicit assumption that underpins these proposals is that further development will stimulategrowth through direct employment and spending in the business services sector, and that furtherindirect employment and spending effects would lead to broader economic development.Demographic growth as well as other positive social benefits would follow.

Increased use of workforce commuting operations, including drive-in/drive out (DIDO) and fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) arrangements, are creating a divergence between direct economic developmentinitiatives and the flow-on economic and social benefits to communities. There are a number ofreasons why remote commuting operations exist, but they include the lower costs of travel(particularly by air), and preferences by workers to live in larger and attractive communities. Thepotential for workforce commuting, and for lower levels of local business expenditure mean thatdevelopment in northern Australia may have much lower positive growth effects on localcommunities than policy makers anticipate.

This paper provides a broad review of the factors that drive workforce commuting and distantbusiness supply chains, and links these to the challenge of regional development in the north.Communities and regional areas are presented as competing for workforce and businesses, andfactors that improve the liveability and cost-competitiveness of communities relative to others willimprove the level of economic benefits gained from major developments.

The development of remote commuting in mining

The development of commuting arrangements in mining provides an example of changingdevelopment patterns. The use of a non‐resident workforce is now an integral part of many miningoperations in Australia. There has been increased usage of FIFO and DIDO operations in miningactivities in Australia since the 1970s. While the use of FIFO was initially focused on remote locationswhere it was difficult to provide appropriate infrastructure and services, there is now increasingapplication of FIFO and DIDO in more accessible areas. The use of FIFO is particularly evident inresource operations in Western Australia, while the use of DIDO is particularly evident in the BowenBasin region in Queensland. While remote locations may be only serviced by FIFO, many resourceoperations are serviced by a mixture of FIFO, DIDO and local workforce when the range of directemployees, contractors and indirect employees are considered.

The development of the Bowen Basin in Queensland over the past forty years provides an exampleof the increased use of remote commuting operations. This area is located in central Queensland,

Professor John Rolfe, School of Business and Law, Central Queensland University.


but can be classified as part of northern Australia. The area is much more closely settled than mostparts of northern Australia, with more than 20 smaller towns and centres in the basin, and closeproximity to major centres such as Mackay and Rockhampton on the coast.

When mining began in the 1960s and 1970s, all workers lived in local mining towns, some purposebuilt. Changes in roster patterns towards longer block shifts encouraged moves towards DIDOarrangements, with a proportion of mine workforce choosing to commute from coastal cities such asMackay. During the mining boom from 2003 to 2012, more FIFO operations emerged for a variety oflabour supply, cost-effectiveness and industrial relations reasons. The Queensland GovernmentStatistician’s Office (QGSO) (2013) reported that there were 34,890 jobs in the coal sector in theBowen Basin in June 2013, and that 22,900 non-resident workers were on shift in the Bowen Basinat any one time. Given that off-shift workers were not included in the estimates, it is clear that themajority of direct employment in the Bowen Basin is commuting in some form from outside theregion.

The proximity of the Bowen Basin to coastal areas has meant that the majority of workforce hasremained in the regional area whether they commuted by DIDO or FIFO patterns. Most economicand social benefits of the mining developments and flow-on effects through the economy have thusaccumulated at the regional level, even if the local impacts around the mining areas have beenlimited. The extent of the economic impacts of the resources sector on the Bowen Basin andassociated regional areas is outlined in Rolfe et al. (2011).

A new phase of economic development is emerging in the Bowen Basin, where newer mines arebeing developed that operate solely on FIFO operations from Brisbane and Cairns, despite workforcebeing available in central Queensland. These are similar in operation to many of the remotelyoperated mines in northern Australia, where remote operations mean that most of the direct andindirect economic benefits flow to host rather than local communities. Increasing use of automationand mechanisation and more efficient workforce operations further limit the likelihood that miningwill generate major benefits to many local communities.

The development of remote commuting in other sectors

The use of FIFO and DIDO arrangements is not restricted to the mining industry (de Silva et al. 2011).Australian workforces have become much more mobile in recent decades, in part because the costsand time involved in long distance travel have improved. There are many cases of workers andprofessionals commuting between cities and to other locations for block shifts or a working week ona temporary or a full‐time basis.

FIFO and DIDO arrangements are much more common in resource areas and communities becauseof (a) use by the mining industry, (b) housing shortages (c) workforce demands, and (d) short termgrowth pressures. The small size of many communities in regional areas makes it difficult to provideworkforce and/or housing during growth times. While mining industries often provide the core ofFIFO and DIDO workforces, the need for the mining services sector, the business supply chain andthe wider community and government services sectors mean that the non‐resident workforcecommuting into an area may be very diverse.


The visible growth of commuting in the resources sector has created some perceptions that remotecommuting is a mining industry phenomena driven by short term pressures to attract labour forceand capacity to pay. This can be characterised as a cyclical effect, where reductions in workforcecommuting can be expected as the resource boom wanes.

However there is substantial evidence that long-distance commuting represents a structural changein the way that developments and services are staffed in regional areas. Under this view, the trendstowards long-distance commuting are not going to disappear, and cut across different industries andregions in non-discriminating ways. The implications of these structural shifts for northern Australiaare profound, as it is possible that:

There may be very limited flow-on effects to local and regional communities from majordevelopments,

Long-distance commuting will become more common across all sectors of the economy, notjust resource industries,

There will be increasing concentration of population and economic activity in major urbanand regional centres, and in lifestyle regions,

There will be increased polarisation in growth patterns and wealth distribution acrosscommunities.

Rolfe et al. (2007) identified two types of structural changes that were seeing the benefits ofdevelopment accrue more to larger, centralised communities than smaller, remote ones. The firstcan be termed the economic drivers, where better transport and communication facilities, increasedemphasis on service industries and the increased scale of firms and enterprises meant that supplynetworks tended to be longer and firms tended to locate in major centres. The second are the socialchanges, where people prefer to live in larger centres because of better employment opportunities,better education and health services, increased recreation opportunities, and quality of lifestylefactors.

The policy challenge

There are risks that northern Australia will only capture the direct economic and employmentimpacts of further major developments, and that the larger indirect and social benefits ofdevelopment will be transferred to major urban or southern centres. Minimising these risks willinvolve attention to policy in a number of areas.

First, local and regional business chains need to be fostered. Establishing successful business sectorscreates much larger multiplier effects from economic stimuli, and helps to strengthen and diversifyeconomic conditions. Mechanisms to develop business chains include having low cost and regulatoryenvironments, establishing strong business relationships and networks, and encouraging qualityperformance.


Second, search for areas of regional specialisation and concentration. Larger centres will continue togrow faster, so northern Australia will need to compete by finding ways for their regional centres toprovide services to industry and businesses that are lower cost or unique.

Third, focus on liveability and lifestyle factor to attract new population to key centres. Withincreased wealth, working flexibility and access to services, people increasingly have the freedom tolive in attractive locations. Liveability relates to access to major services, lower cost of living anddiversity of employment, and is also closely aligned with the tourism and recreation sectors. For aregion to be successful, it is not enough to simply create jobs and economic prospects. Liveability isnow a key driver of regional development, and a major factor in competition between regional areasfor population and growth prospects.

References

De Silva, H., Johnson, L. and Wade, K. 2011. Long distance commuters in Australia: A socio-economic anddemographic profile. Paper presented at the Australasian Transport Research Forum, 28-30 September 2011.Available at http://www.patrec.org/atrf.aspx

Queensland Government Statistician’s Office (QGSO) (2013) Bowen Basin Population Report, 2013.Queensland Treasury and Trade, Brisbane. Available at: www.oesr.qld.gov.au

Rolfe, J., Miles, R., Lockie, S. and Ivanova, G. 2007 Lessons from the social and economic impacts of themining boom in the Bowen Basin 2004 – 2006, Australasian Journal of Regional Studies, 13(2): 134-153.

Rolfe, J., Lawrence, R., Rynne, D., Gregg, D. and Ivanova, G. 2011 The Economic Contribution of theResources Sector by Regional Areas in Queensland, Economic Analysis and Policy, 41(1), 15-36.

Rolfe, J. 2011. Rolfe (CQU) Submission to the House Standing Committee on Regional Australia of Fly-in andFly-out (FIFO) workforce practices in regional Australia, Submission number 63, Australian Government,Canberra.


Human Services Sector Development in Northern AustraliaProfessor Hurriyet Babacan, University of New England.

Introduction

There is universal agreement that strong, resilient and healthy individuals, families andcommunity play a vital role in building the ongoing prosperity, wellbeing and economicdevelopment. It has been demonstrated that long term economic growth in the regions occursthrough investment in human capital development (OECD, 2012). ‘Inclusive growth’ andbroader notions of ‘human security’ are emerging, encompassing areas such as sustainableeconomic development; food security; health; and environmental, personal, community,political and cultural security (Babacan and Babacan 2007; UNESCAP 2013).

This section considers human service sector development1 issues in Northern Australia. Thechapter visits key issues in human service delivery including the population profile and the linkbetween spatial location and social disadvantage. There is a critical examination of servicedelivery models and their sustainability in the context of Northern Australia. It is argued thatthat Northern Australia’s human service sector lags behind major cities and has a history ofbeing underfunded. Insufficient past investment and governance problems has negativelyimpacted on the sector as a whole causing fragmentation, service gaps and workforceshortages. There is a significant gap in data and evidence base in relation to NorthernAustralia and the human services sector, making policy and planning difficult. The chapterconcludes with a discussion of future directions and strategies.

Brief Glance at Social Aspects of Northern Australia

Northern Australia comprises over 1.2 million people; approximately six % of the nationalpopulation (Regional Australia Institute 2013). The area described as Northern Australia (NA)is located across three jurisdictions, namely Queensland, Western Australia and NorthernTerritory. It covers 74 local government areas (LGAs): 8 in Western Australia, 16 in NorthernTerritory and 50 in Queensland. There is significant level of variability within and betweenregions in Northern Australia.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have strong presence and interest in NorthernAustralia. A quarter of people who usually reside in NA are Indigenous (Stoeckl, 2010:106).Some 67,000 Aboriginal people represent 32% of the total NT population (Manderson2008). Indigenous people represent 15% of the Far North Queensland population and 46.5%of the East Kimberley population (Taylor 2008) The Indigenous population is expected tocontinue to grow at a faster rate than the non-Indigenous population (1.97 % per annumcompared to 1.78%) (Carson, Taylor & Campbell, 2009). Stoeckl (2010:106) concludesthat “Indigenous people are not only an important and numerically significant-part of thisregion's current population, but they will become even more important in the years ahead”.

Northern Australia can be considered regional, rural or remote. While there is much debateabout what these terms mean, the Rural, Remote and Metropolitan Areas (RRMA) classificationdeveloped by the Australian Government specifies it as follows:

“regional” refers to non-urban centres with a population over 25,000 and withrelatively good access to services;

1 A number of terms are used interchangeably to refer to this sector including human services sector, socialand community services sector, and health and community services.


“rural” refers to non-urban localities of under 25,000 with reduced accessibility; and “remote” communities are those of fewer than 5,000 people with very restricted

accessibility (Roufeil & Battye, 2008:3)

Most of Northern Australia fits in the definition of rural and remote with only five regions hada population larger than 70,000, 13 had between 15,000 and 70,000 people, and 55regions had populations of less than 15,000 in 2011(RAI, 2013:31)

Development in NA has gained political and media attention in recent years. In particular theneed for economic diversification and economic growth has become a central focus (see Officeof Northern Australia website). While there is a renewed focus on NA, disparities andinequities exist in a number of ways: between NA and the rest of Australia, variability withinNA locations and across population groups. The key priorities of the Regional DevelopmentAustralia Committees reflect the issues facing NA. The top issue that was identified by RDAregions was infrastructure including basic infrastructure such as power, water and wastemanagement. Diversification of the economic base, information and communicationtechnologies and access to affordable housing, basic health services and education are otherimportant areas of focus.

The think tank for regional development established by the Government of Australia, theRegional Australia Institute, states that “regional development in northern Australia requires arange of approaches that address both the variability and the disparity; between the northand the rest of Australia, between and within regions, and between population groups ”(2013:11).

Summary Point 1: Northern Australia is diverse, vast and sparsely populated. Most of NA fitswithin the characterisation as regional, rural and remote.

Spatial Dimensions of Disadvantage in NA

Northern Australia comprises 2,773,000 km2 making up 36% of the land mass of Australia.The population is sparse and spread over large area with only 6% of the population ofAustralia residing in NA. The connection between disadvantage, demography andgeography are well established (Cheers and Taylor 2001, Chenowith & Stehlik 2001). Along list of social issues are identified regional, rural and remote areas including mental health(Fragar et al 2007), domestic violence (Wendt & Hornosty 2010), and needs of older adults(Winterton & Warbarton 2011), health (AIHW) just to name a few. Factors which exacerbateaspects of rural disadvantage have been identified as financial strain, family and communityrelationships, out-migration from rural areas, changing gender roles and social isolation (Hall& Scheltens, 2005). The Australian Institute for Health and Welfare has identified that lifeexpectancy, income and education levels are lower for people in regional, remote and ruralareas. Cheers and Taylor (2001:207) have identified that people in rural areas aredisadvantaged in comparison to urban people on most of the social and economic indicatorsincluding 'life chances, income levels, poverty, unemployment, living costs, housing quality,health status, education, and a range of social problems, and in gaining access to health,welfare, community, personal support, and essential services'. Discrimination, marginalization,isolation, deprivation are terms that have been used characterise link between rurality andwellbeing (Winterton & Warbarton 2011).

The spatial disadvantage is evident in Northern Australia. The Australian Bureau of Statisticscalculates the Socio-Economic Indexes for Area (SEIFA). The index is derived from attributesthat reflect disadvantage such as low income, low educational attainment, high unemployment,and jobs in relatively unskilled occupations. Based on 2011 Census data the SEIFA index in NAdemonstrate disadvantage in a significant number of local government areas. The following


indicates the SEIFA index of selected local government areas in Northern Australia. It shouldbe noted that the average Australian SEIFA score is 1000. The lower the SEIFA score, thehigher the disadvantage.

State Local Government Area SEIFA Score State LocalGovernmentArea

SEIFAScore

QLD Aurukuun 586 WA Broome 966Burke 915 Derby-West

Kimberly791

Cairns 975 Halls Creek 671Carpentaria 865 Wyndham-East

Kimberly911

Charters Towers 931Cloncurry 934 NT Alice Springs 1010Hopevale 678 Central Desert 646Kowanyama 644 Darwin 1044Mackay 1007 East Arnhem 624Mt Isa 986 Katherine 944Townsville 1002 Palmerston 1024Tablelands 932 Roper Gulf 650Torres Strait Islands 729 Victoria Daly 662Winton 931 West Arnhem 715Yarrabah 554

Table 1: Scores for Northern Australia Socio-Economic Disadvantage

Source: ABS 2011 Census of Population and Housing SEIFA Data

The above table demonstrates socio-economic disadvantage in Northern Australia. Thedisadvantage is evident in large regional cities such as Cairns as well and more remote areas.Areas with high Indigenous populations have the lowest SEIFA scores. For example Yarrabahis one of the most disadvantageous locations in Australia with a SEIFA score half that of theAustralian average.

Some of the key indicators of the disadvantage is outlined by Catholic Social ServicesAustralia (2014). They argue that there is greater government and welfare dependence inNA than Australia, 75 % of the Statistical Local Areas in Australia with a median individualweekly income amounting to less than $250 per week were within Northern Australia (in2006); increased drug and alcohol issues; limited housing stock; and poor infrastructure. Thehigh cost of living is a critical issue in Northern Australia particularly in food, housing, transportwhich compounds the disadvantage of the people on low incomes (CSSA 2014:6-7). RegionalAustralia Institute notes that Northern Australia is well below the national average for six ofthe nine indicators of competitiveness in the human capital theme including across all theindicators which assess skills development, especially in early childhood performance andschool performance (primary and secondary) and the English language proficiency averagesat a level equivalent to the lowest decile in Australia.


Indigenous disadvantage continues in Northern Australia in key social areas such as lifeexpectancy, education, income, labour market participation and health. For example, the gapin life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people was 10.6 years for malesand 9.5 years for females. Between 2008 and 2013, the proportion of Indigenous students ator above the National Minimum Standards (NMS) in reading and numeracy has shownimprovement in only two out of eight instances. Only 31 % of Indigenous students in remoteareas reached NMS in year 9 in 2013. Only 38.5 % of Indigenous 20–24 years in remoteareas had completed Year 12 in 2012. The proportion of Indigenous people aged 15–64who are employed in 2012 was 47.5% compared to 75.6% non-Indigenous (AustralianGovernment 2014). A number of government responses has been initiated over the lastdecade. Some of these have been highly contentious including Closing the Gap and TheNational Partnership Agreement on Remote Service Delivery. These interventions have beencontested and with limited results. For example in relation to Closing the Gap outcomes, theAustralian Government (2014: 3-4) concludes “there had been no improvement in Indigenousschool attendance over five years. The record of progress against other targets has also beendisappointing. There has been no progress on the employment target and while Indigenous lifeexpectancy has improved, the pace of change is far too slow to close the gap by 2031.”

Summary Point 2: There is evidence to indicate a correlation between spatial location anddisadvantage. The data identifies Northern Australia as having significant levels of socio-economic disadvantage, particularly Indigenous disadvantage.

Investment in Human and Community Services

The human service delivery agencies fall into three categories: i) community based (alsoreferred as not for profit or third sector agencies), ii) government agencies and iii) for profitagencies (mainly private sector). Human service delivery in rural and remote areas tends tobe provided by government or community service organisations (which are often publiclyfunded). For example, in the area of residential aged care, for profit providers constitute40% of services across Australia. However, only 4.1% of services are located outside of majorcities and inner regional locations. In contrast, 91% of all services in rural or remote areasare operated by either government or community based providers (Baldwin et al 2013:8).There is an gap in evidence about the nature of the sector in NA. It is known that there arelarge charitable agencies such as the Catholic Social Services across NA, Indigenous healthagencies, government agencies and a network of smaller community organisations.

In 2010–11, total government welfare expenditure in Australia was estimated at $119.4billion (AIHW 2011). $90.0 billion was provided as cash payments (including unemploymentbenefits) and $29.4 billion was spent on welfare services. In the same year an estimated$90.1 billion was spent on health. In comparison with other developed nations, Australia rankslower on the welfare expenditure rankings, although it does well in some areas. Australia’stotal welfare expenditure was estimated at 13.3% of GDP in 2009. This is lower than theOECD average of 16.3%, with Australia ranking 27th out of 33 countries. In 2007, Australiawas ranked 24 out of 34 countries, indicating the downward trajectory in internationalrankings (AIHW 2011). Australia’s per person expenditure was higher than the OECDaverage in the areas of families and incapacity, and below the OECD average for old age,survivors, unemployment and ‘other’ (OECD 2012).


The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) (2013:399) notes that “there iscurrently no dedicated routine monitoring of total welfare expenditure, comprisinggovernment and non-government spending, in Australia”. While aggregated data exists forgovernment expenditure it is very difficult to break it down to analysis at different scales.Thus an accurate assessment of investment in social and community services is not possible inNorthern Australia.

An examination of data from 1999-2007 reveal chronic underinvestment in welfare in theStates and Territories that comprise Northern Australia. For example the AIHW concludesthat funding of recurrent expenditure on welfare services by all state and territorygovernments averaged $421 per person in 2005–06. The states with the lowest averagegovernment funding were Queensland ($358) and Western Australia ($361) (AIHW 2007).The average amount spent by governments on welfare services per person in 2010–11 was$1,308 (AIHW 2013). However, a breakdown of welfare expenditure per person based onStates and Territories is not available beyond 2007 as the AIHW’s work focusing on welfarewas been defunded.

In terms of health expenditures, in 2011–12, the estimated Australian Government funding perperson on health averaged $2,620. WA and Qld were below the national average with$2,270 and $ 2,585 respectively. NT invested significantly in health and had a higher perperson investment in health of $3379 (AIHW 2014). However, it should be noted that NT iscompensating for past underfunding as it came from the lowest Australian Governmentfunding on health per person in 2001–02 ($1,697). In terms of non-government funding thelowest level of non-government funding was in the Northern Territory and Queensland at$744 and $815 per person in 2011-12 (AIHW 2014), demonstrating the significance ofpublic funding in health and welfare.

A number of factors influence welfare spending including population growth, the cost ofproviding services and rates of service use, and capacity to pay privately. The capacity topay privately in Northern Australia is limited (CSSA 2014) and is reflected by the smallprivate sector human service delivery. The reason why welfare services are provided aregiven by Government as improving ‘the lives of Australians by creating opportunities foreconomic and social participation by individuals, families and communities’ (FAHCSIA 2011)and ‘increasing national prosperity through improvements to productivity, participation andsocial inclusion’ (DEEWR 2011). Investment welfare yield multiple returns to society in socialand economic terms. The Social Return on Investment work undertaken in international andcommunity development fields demonstrates this many times. For example, in the UK it wasfound that a £1 invested in local area community development yielded a return valued at€15, a social return investment ratio of 2.16: 1 (NEF 2010:4). At a more macro scale there isevidence between increased public spending on human capital and improved prosperity. Forexample, Lamartina and Zaghini (2008), in an analysis of 23 high income countries from1970-2006, confirmed a positive correlation between public spending and per capita rise inGDP.


In Northern Australia, recognizing the preventative role of social and human services sector,the Regional Australia Institute argues that as both sectors play a vital role in the earlydetection and treatment of preventable health conditions. They argue that lack of appropriateinvestment in the sector impacts on Northern Australia’s competitiveness and reinforces thepersistence of human capital weaknesses over time and increases the costs to regions for theprovision of social services. Similarly, the Mineral Council of Australia, in its submission to aParliamentary Inquiry, pointed out the need for investment in community and communityinfrastructure in Northern Australia when they wrote: “Research suggests that communities thatdo not have sufficient infrastructure, social amenity and economic diversity will not attract newresidents and this will in turn constrain the industry’s recruitment capacity” (House ofRepresentatives 2013).

Recent studies have focused on social capital and community resiliency. There is a positiveand strong correlation between growth of human services and progressive change incommunities. For example, Chenoweth and Stehlik (2001) have demonstrated in Queenslandrural communities that human services is contributing to new forms of community resiliency.They argue that the potential for resiliency rests in partnerships and proactive planning at thelocal level. There is a strong imperative for strong communities given the challenges that faceNorthern Australia such as climate change, boom-bust economic cycles and significantdisadvantage. Concepts of community and resilience has been associated with terms such as‘bouncing back’, transforming’ and ‘adaptive’ (Kirmayer et al. 2009, Gow & Paton 2008).

Summary Point 3: The data on welfare expenditures is patchy with major gaps in it. Existingdata shows historical under-investment by WA, Qld and NT in health, human and socialservices. There is ample evidence from around the world to indicate that social investment inwelfare and human services yields much bigger economic and social returns on the investmentand has strong correlations with increased prosperity and productivity.

Sustainable rural and remote human service delivery

The delivery of human services in rural, remote and regional areas is very different for arange of reasons. Distance that impacts on service costs, productive time on site, and staffexhaustion due to travel commitments (Roufeil & Battye 2008). The Catholic Social ServicesAustralia (2013) argue that it costs much more to provide a service in Northern Australia whichare often not recognized in funding models. Other factors identified include communitypressure to be “all things to all people” in the absence of an adequate range of health andwelfare services; the long time required to foster community acceptance, the challenge ofmanaging confidentiality in small communities; limited access to other support professionals,especially specialists; difficulty recruiting and retaining staff; the limited ability ofcommunities to pay for services and general reluctance to seek help when needed (Roufeil &Battye 2008, Judd et al 2006).

These issues have been echoed in meetings held by the author across Northern Australia from2010-2013. In an extensive consultation undertaken in 2011, involving service providers inFar North Queensland, a number of key issues were identified including:

Insufficient resources relative to need, funding not taking account of ‘real service deliverycosts’; service agency growth without co-ordination, integration and planning resulting in majorservice gaps; difficulties with being proactive around community needs and limitations onresponsiveness due to a culture of short-term competitive funding processes in the face of longterm social problems; the need for preventative and outcomes based approaches to humanservice planning and delivery rather than the current reactive and crisis based approaches;


professional staff not having enough time to do the higher order thinking and planning to beproactive as they were stretched responding to current demand; tendering processes acting asa barrier for collaboration across agencies; little connectivity between funded and unfundedagencies; difficulties with maintaining long term sustainability of service viability and ‘churnover’ of services and staff. This was also linked to difficulties of influencing decision makerswho were located long way away in Canberra or Brisbane. Workforce issues identifiedincluded difficulties of recruiting and retaining appropriately qualified workforce, loss ofexperienced personnel due to lack of funding and job security; and lack of career andpersonal development opportunities. As a result, human services sector was seen as variablein strength and coverage, often varying with funding opportunities rather than being based onneed (Babacan 2011).

An analysis of the human services sector in Northern Australia requires an analysis of humanservice delivery models. As can be seen from the above list of issues there are majorchallenges across Northern Australia relating to sustainable and functional service deliverymodels. Battye (2007:5) defines a dysfunctional service model as “a model of servicedelivery that does not support or enable health professionals to provide effective care toindividuals and communities on a sustainable basis”. The evidence from Northern Australiasuggests that professionals to provide effective care and service.

Identifying and implementing models of service in regional, rural and remote areas is noteasy. Current practice in Northern Australia is mixed although there is no specificcomprehensive study available. In the absence of data, it is useful to utilise the typologyprovided from Wakerman et al (2008) from their study from rural and remote public healthservice delivery.

Each of these models has different features and advantages and disadvantages which thescope of this paper does not permit discussion. The authors identify essential elements ofsustainable services and outline a number of enablers which are crucial in preparing in orderto provide accessible services. The environmental enablers are: a supportive policy whichensures sustained service funding; co-ordination of policy and funding across national andstate governments; and an appropriate level of community readiness for involvement in

DiscreteServices

• Walk-in, walk-out

• Specificservices

• Based inspecificlocation

IntegratedServices

• Co-ordination• Single point

entry• Multi-service• Shared care• Linkages with

otherprograms

Comprehensive

• Broader infocus

• Communitycontrolled e.gAboriginalcontrolledhealth service

Outreach

• Hub- &-Spoke• Fly-in-fly out• Visiting

professional• Periodic

services

Virtual

• Use of IT• Tele-health


planning, implementation and monitoring of service activity. Furthermore, at the service level,requirements include workforce– numbers and mix of staff; funding; governance, managementand leadership; linkages, which include integration of services within an organisation andexternal linkages with other key organisations to ensure continuity of care; and infrastructure– physical infrastructure as well as adequate information and communication technology. It isimportant to note that these factors are all inter-related.

Sustainability issues need urgent attention as regional, remote and rural services are underenormous pressure and are unable to meet the demands of the communities they serve (Alston& Kent, 2004). Services in Northern Australia face problems of accessibility, availability,relevance and acceptability, especially in the more remote areas. Regional centres servicescater for more remote surrounding areas without appropriate resources. Due to bettercommunication people expect same level of services in Northern Australia as they receive inthe Southern parts. Raised expectations from government and disappointment are oftenpublicly reported in the media. Regional Australia Institute argues that access to allied healthis low and GP access (visits per capita) is extremely low relative to the national average(2013:26). One of the major non-profit social service agencies in Northern Australia, CatholicSocial Services Australia (CSSA) argues that “a “one size fits all” approach will not work forNorthern Australia given the diversity, governance, social, environmental and economic issues”(2014:5). Identifying effective and sustainable models in Northern Australia about servicedelivery is severely constrained by a lack of evidence about ‘what works best’. While there isnow a growing body of evidence about the needs of communities in Northern Australia, wehave scant research base about appropriate models of services and how to respondeffectively to the diverse community needs.

Summary Point 4: Service delivery in Northern Australia is very different in NorthernAustralia due to a number of factors and is more expensive to deliver. There are majorchallenges to the sector in relation to service gaps, workforce issues and funding. While thereare models of service delivery in regional, rural and remote areas there is no evidence aboutwhat works best in Northern Australia. The capacity to be proactive and responsive to needsand to take preventative approaches is critical. This will not happen unless sustainabilityissues are addressed.

Governance Challenges

Governance is a complex term that encompasses the way decisions are made in order toachieve a public good. Dale (2013:5) reminds us to a take a wide view of governance anddefines it as “how the overall system of decision-making works to deliver social, economic andenvironmental outcomes for our society”. Governance arrangements in Northern Australiahave been characterised as being on the ‘knife’s edge’ (Dale 2013:10). The governancearrangements are centralised by in the State/Territory capitals and Canberra (Babacan et al2012, Dale 2013) which often do not take into account the issues and needs of NorthernAustralia. Dale (2013:11) argues that “this traditionally leads to a high level of frustrationboth among northern Australian communities and even among the North’s elected members”.The governance arrangements across the different regions of NA are quite fragmentedalthough some degree of collaboration is beginning to emerge, particularly in the NaturalResource Management bodies (Dale 2013). There is very little collaboration across thehuman services sectors although regional bodies exist. For example, the Cairns Social ServicesAlliance is a network of services in Far North Queensland and it has been calling for policyand human services reform (Babacan 2011). Diverse Indigenous governance systemscharacterise Northern Australia organised around traditional owner groups, land trusts and


not-for profit service agencies. Indigenous leaders in Northern Australia have also beencalling for governance reform such as rights based reforms in the governance for land,community development and welfare work (NAILSMA, 2012) and welfare reform by NoelPearson (Pearson 2013).

Governments play a relatively more important role in regional economies within northernAustralia than for Australia as a whole due to higher local government expenditures andgreater proportion of public servants in the workforce than in the rest of Australia (RAI2013:29). Walker et al (2012:8) argue that current governance arrangements in Australiais “nothing less than a crisis in governance, and an urgent need for systemic change”. Theyargue that there is a governance dysfunction which has come about incrementally over 20years. The governance arrangements are not well attuned to the current circumstances andemerging trends in remote Australia.

Pointing to disconnect, disengagement and discontent, consultations undertaken by DesertKnowledge Australia reveal what people want: a say in decisions which affect them;equitable and sustainable financial flows; better services and a locally responsive publicservice; local control and accountability where possible; and inclusion in a greater Australiannarrative (Walker 2012:9) . This is supported by other writers who argue that short term,fragmented, inflexible and annualised government program delivery models simply do notwork in Northern Australia (Dale 2013). It has been argued that centralization of power andpeople, and the domination of welfare services by federal and state governments haveresulted in highly standardised services which has problems with responding to diversity ofneeds and populations (Cheers 1992). Cheers (1992:13) states that as a result ofcentralisation “Australian welfare services have tended to be dominated by capital cityadministrators…their colleagues … in provincial and rural locations attract comparativelyfew, often inappropriate, resources to their regions and have had relatively little influenceover policy and services”.

The importance integrated and coordinated approaches cannot be overstated. For example,the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in a study of 23regional case studies across Europe, identified that success was based on improvements inhorizontal coordination of policies, regional institutional capacities, infrastructure provision andhuman capital development (2012:10). Quality of institutions, labour market fragmentationand connectivity were essential elements of prosperous regional development. Successfulregional approaches require addressing a range of challenges at the same time but as manyauthors point out not in ‘one size fits all” manner (Cheers 1992, OECD 2012).

Achieving integration and planning in human services will not happen by itself and will requireintentional effort and resources. As Keast et al. (2011:5) argue, integration and planning

is not easy to achieve nor is it an inexpensive undertaking, it requires dedicatedconsideration, planning, resourcing and adequate funding. In particular, interpersonalrelationships are resource and labour intensive with associated (albeit oftentransparent) transaction costs and must be legitimised as a ‘core’ element of work andadequately funded. Coordination or linking points are critical in holding the elementsof the system together and, when necessary, mobilise them to action.

Integration and coordination requires a shift of mind-sets and practice of how policies andprograms are designed and implemented. The Regional Australia Institute (2013:76) positsthat the challenge for policy is to create an approach that devolves genuine responsibility topeople, incentivises their leadership in building a different future and provides the timeneeded for this seismic shift in approach to occur.


Summary Point 5: Governance arrangements in NA are fragmented and lack coordinationand integration. Human service policies and funding are centralised and driven by theState/Territory capitals and Canberra which is not easy to influence from a distance. As aresult there disconnected with what happens in the regions of NA and policy/governance.This results in a loss of ability to be responsive to local needs and to have integrated andcoordinated approaches.

Workforce Issues

The ‘community services workforce’ comprises people in paid employment who providecommunity services such as personal and social support, child care, and corrective services(AIHW 2013). This is complemented by volunteers, family members and informal carers. In2011, there were more than 755,000 workers in community services occupations inAustralia—an increase of 24% since 2006 (AIHW 2013:25). Workers in community servicesoccupations were more likely to be female (87%), employed part time (57%), older andgenerally earning less than the average Australian worker (AIHW 2013:25).

The shortage of human and community services and health professionals in rural areas is welldocumented (Davies et al 2009, Lonne & Cheers 2004, Roufeil & Battye 2008 ) although theCommunity Services and Health Industry Skills Council (2014) argues that there is a need forrelevant and high quality training and workforce data. They argue that appropriate planningin the sector is challenging without appropriate evidence, particularly in the context of a fastchanging policy and funding domain. The environmental scan conducted by the CommunityServices and Health Industry Skills Council (2014) identified shortages in aged care, childcare,child protection, mental health, counselling , social workers, nurses, disability workers.Managers and senior staff in leadership roles in the community services and health sector wasalso identified as a shortage.

The shortage of appropriate workforce increases with greater remoteness (AIHW 2013). Forexample early childhood teachers were 852 per 10,000 population in major cities comparedto 680 and 738 for outer regional and remote, nurses were 926 for major cities compared to876 and 676 for outer regional and remote, counsellors 752 in major cities and 689 and 684in outer regional and remote, social workers were 806 in major cities and 625 and 490 inouter regional and remote and so on across the different occupational categories (AIHW2013:17). Babacan (2011) has identified challenges in recruiting and retaining appropriateworkforce across Northern Australia including the difficulty of attracting appropriatelyqualified staff, problems with retaining staff in the face of short term funding cycles and jobinsecurity, difficulty of career progression, burnout and stress and lack of opportunity forprofessional development. These findings were echoed by others. For example Roufeil andBattye (2008:8) suggest three key areas that contribute to workforce shortages: i)professional issues (e.g., job dissatisfaction, overload/burnout, professional isolation, lack ofsupport and training, burden of rural travel, inadequate orientation to rural/Indigenouspractice, lack of adequate remuneration, inflexible award conditions); 2) personal factors(e.g., housing, partner employment issues, access to quality childcare/ education); and 3)community factors (e.g., establishment of social networks, local facilities). Similarly Davies et al(2009:xv) found that barriers to attracting staff included negative perceptions of ruralemployment and lifestyle opportunities; limited health and education facilities and services;lower wages and cost of living considerations; and cost, availability and quality of housing.


Reflecting on the difficulties of staff development in Centacare, Northern Territory, Trinidad(2001) draws our attention to the need to invest more in the ongoing professionaldevelopment of staff, building on the knowledge, skills, and qualities that they bring. Hestates that “the temptation for cash-strapped agencies like ours is to put that responsibilitysolely on the shoulders of the individual staff member”(p.12). Strategies for retaining staffwere identified as providing competitive employment packages, improving the opportunitiesfor structured career advancement pathways, generating activities and networks to overcomeissues of social isolation, providing improved access to health and education facilities andaddressing issues of limited housing options. Regional collaborative approaches wererecommended to address workforce shortages as many small employers would not be in aposition to address key problems such as the provision housing.

Summary Point 6: Human services sector tends to have less secure, part time-casual positionswith lower pay levels. There is a shortage of appropriately qualified and experienced staffin selected areas across Australia. The recruitment and availability of appropriate staffbecomes more difficult with remoteness. There are professional, personal and communityfactors that need to be addressed to attract and retain appropriate staff in NorthernAustralia.

Conclusion and Future Directions

Northern Australia is Northern Australia is diverse, vast and sparsely populated. Most of NAfits within the characterisation as regional, rural and remote. There is a significant linkbetween geography, demography and social problems. There is considerable evidence thatspatial location impacts negatively on wellbeing and increases disadvantage. This chapterhas demonstrated significant disadvantage in Northern Australia and severe and persistentIndigenous disadvantage on all major indicators of health and wellbeing. The approaches tosocial problems is patchy and fragmented. There is a major evidence and data gaps toinform planning, coordination and service delivery. There is insufficient evidence about whatservice models work best, in what locations, type of services and which social issue. Humanservice delivery in Northern Australia needs to be innovative, flexible and diverse. It needs tobe regionally specific and coordinated and integrated across different service agencies in thespecific locations. While specialisation is important, narrowly focused one-type of model ofservice delivery models are unlikely to work in Northern Australia.

Northern Australia will continue to gain significance for Australia as a whole for a range ofeconomic, political, social and cultural reasons. A renewed focus in NA will most likely notsucceed if human capital and social issues are not addressed. A number of areas requirepriority attention:

Building an evidence base: appropriate data needs to be collected about nature of socialissues; disaggregated data collected on welfare expenditure, social services sector and theworkforce; and evaluation/research projects on current practice, where the service gaps areand what service delivery models work best under what circumstances. There is a need tobuild capacity in NA to undertake social impact assessment, needs analysis and socialresearch by better support to the human services sector and the universities in NA.

Integrated planning, service coordination and relevant policy development: It is clear thatcentralised funding and policy models are not effective in responding the Northern Australia.A greater location and presence of State/Territory and Federal governments are needed inNA. As noted above, a ‘one size’ approach is not effective and therefore it is important tohave a devolved and coordinated approach to service planning in NA. This meansprogressing mechanisms for formal and informal, placed –based, cross-sectoral planning and


delivery, driven by local stakeholders and local leadership. Moreover, it is critical that suchdevolved approaches are embedded in policy frameworks so that decision making is notdriven from Canberra, Brisbane, Darwin or Perth for NA. There needs to be effort put intodevelop appropriate governance mechanisms at the third sector level, clearly articulatingconnectivity, vision for the sector and strategies to address capacity and social infrastructureconstraints. There is a need for a Northern Australia community services umbrella agency orcouncil, rather than the State/Territory based ones trying to undertake outreach, to be anadvocate to address sectoral issues.

Ongoing and secure funding models: There has been a chronic underinvestment in NorthernAustralia per capita for health and human service delivery. While the fragmentation in thesector is well known, the service gaps, capacity and resource constraints and priority areasare not well documented at the sub-regional level. There is a need develop on-going fundingmodels which provide preventative, sustainable and outcomes based service delivery ratherthan the current ad-hoc, competitive and fragmented approaches that currently exist.Programmatic approaches to funding, over a number of years is critical rather than one-offcompetitive models. The ‘churning’ of services and workforce due to poor funding modelresults in greater long term inefficiencies and wastage of precious public resources. Whilegovernment will continue to be the main funder of health and human services there is a needto diversity the funding base with strategies to enable support from the private sector andphilanthropic organisations which requires incentives to trial different partnership modelsacross sectors.

Sector capacity building and workforce development: It is critical to document the nature ofworkforce and skills issues for the human sector across NA as there is a critical gap in ourknowledge base. There is a need to address workforce loss of skills due to short term fundingin the non-government sector. Regional, coordinated and cohesive efforts are needed toattract and retain employees in Northern Australia addressing professional, personal andcommunity issues. It is important to develop improved future career progression strategies inthe social and community services industry by education, training and professionaldevelopment initiatives.

While Northern Australia continues to experience strong growth in the planning capacity of itseconomic and natural resource sectors, the social and human services sectors have not beensupported at a strategic level. Building an environment conducive to requires multi-dimensional approaches and neglecting the human services sector will have serious long termconsequences economically, socially and in other ways. Not investing in human services sectorwill have major detrimental impacts on creating liveable communities, development of vibranteconomies, opportunities for participation, sustainable places, inclusive cultural expression andsocial cohesion.

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What type of future for northern Australia’s tourism sector?

E [email protected]

M 0403936146

This paper is based a previous research published by the Cairns Institute. See Prideaux, Bruce (2013)An investigation into factors that may affect the long term environmental and economic sustainability of tourism innorthern Australia. Working Paper. Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia

Professor Bruce Prideaux, The Cairns Institute, James Cook University.


What type of future for northern Australia’s tourism sector

1 Introduction1.1 Aim of ResearchThe aim of this paper is to identify issues that require urgent attention to ensure the long-term economic and environmental sustainability of the tourism sector in northern Australia.In the context of this paper environmental sustainability is described as the use of the studyregion’s natural ecosystems (including coral reefs, wetlands, rivers, forests, fauna and flora,arid areas, landscapes and so on) as tourism attractions in a manner that does not lead totheir long-term ecological decline. A definition of this nature poses specific problems in anera when ecosystems are under pressure from human interventions including agriculture,urbanisation, mining and from global warming. Economic sustainability is broadly describedas the ability of the tourism sector to operate profitably over the long-term in a manner thatmaximises both its comparative and competitive advantages to develop a high level ofcompetitiveness. The long term, as discussed in this research, is defined as 20 or moreyears.

1.2 BackgroundIn any tourism region the relationships between demand and supply are continuallychanging for a plethora of reasons including changing consumer tastes, innovation, changesin the cost and quality of inputs, the regulatory environment, changing elasticity of demand,environmental factors, political changes and destination image. In the tourism sector alldestinations faces the ongoing task of matching consumer ‘push’ factors (demand sidefactors that include the desire to travel, income, travel preferences etc) with destination‘pull’ factors (supply side factors that include price, quality and range of experiences onoffer, security etc). When a mismatch occurs, for example where a destination fails torespond to changing consumer demand (ie change in push factors) by adjusting its pullfactors, or where the destination becomes uncompetitive, tourism demand will plateau orfall. Arresting a decline of this nature will generally require identifying new markets,adjusting product offerings, attracting new investment and encouraging innovation.

Over the past 30 years the tourism sector in northern Australia has developed an impressivecatalogue of nature-based experiences but the markets they were originally built to servehave changed and new groups of consumers have taken their place, often with demands forexperiences and services that simply did not exist in the past. To illustrate, the initial stageof expansion of Cairns into the international market was primarily targeted at the Japanesemarket in addition to Europe and the US. The infrastructure built to service these marketsstill exists but the markets have changed dramatically. The total number of Japanese visitingCairns in the year to September 2013 was 94,000, down from the 2006 high point of251,000. In the same period the number of Chinese visitors to Cairns has risen from 34,384in the 12 months to September 2006 to 144,000 for the 12 months to September 2013 and


is forecast to continue to rise provided the region can deliver the type of experiencesexpected by Chinese visitors.

In the future, further changes will be precipitated by anticipated and unanticipated globalscale events, new demand and supply side opportunities and threats, changes in theenvironment and changes in government policy. Anticipated events in the future includepopulation ageing, changes in the composition of key markets, urbanisation, emergence ofnew destinations, changing demand for tourism experiences, the emergence of the‘experience’ economy and the manner in which national economies respond to the changesgenerated by global warming. Unanticipated or difficult to forecast events may includefurther disruptions to the international economy, pandemics, political turmoil, naturaldisasters and events that we currently have no forewarning about.

The health of the environment, not just as a tourism resource but as a key life supportmechanism for all living things, is likely to become of increasing concern as: the globalpopulation continues to grow; global warming driven impacts accelerate (IPCC 2013); globalurbanisation rates continue to climb; and there is a growing realisation that an unhealthyenvironment can have a significant adverse impact on individual and community health asdemonstrated by current pollution problems in China. How governments, consumers andthe private sector respond to these and other factors will have a significant impact on thefuture success of the tourism sector.

Over the last decade northern Australia’s tourism sector has stagnated as illustrated inFigure 1. Reasons given for decline include the high value of the Australian Dollar, impacts ofglobal events such as the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), structural issues within the industryand growth of new international destinations. The bottom line however is that manyAustralian destinations are failing to offer the types of experiences demanded bycontemporary tourists.

Given the extent of the unanticipated changes in recent decades it is imperative that theregion’s tourism industry identifies issues that may affect it in the future, both inenvironmental and economic terms. This is a difficult task given that the future is likely to beaffected by forces that are not yet apparent.


1.3 Limitations of this Discussion

The range of factors that could be considered in a paper of this nature are enormous,complex and multi-jurisdictional and for these reasons many are beyond the immediatescope of this research. Key limitations of this discussion are:

The future is difficult to predict however the observations in this paper highlightfactors that at the time of writing appear to have some capacity to influence futureevents.

No attempt is made to give predictions of the future. Results are based on data collected through extensive interviews across northern

Australia in 2012 and early 2013. As a result the potential impact of the recentlyannounced Aquis Resort (Aquis 2013) project in Cairns was not included in thediscussions. If the project does go ahead it is likely to create a new wave ofexpansion of the tourism industry based primarily on growth in the Chinese marketin a manner similar to that which occurred with the rapid expansion of Japanesevisitors in the past.

It is very likely that many of the factors that will in the future shape the study areawill not be identified in this paper; such is the nature of the future.

Many of the factors dealt with in this paper were not identified by previous reportsthat examined future trends concerning northern Australia and have thereforeescaped scrutiny in the past.

Australia’s post-resources economy will require numerous policy responses by stateand federal governments. While this factor will be a key driver of change in manyareas of the national economy, this paper will not attempt to identify specificresponses.

2 Recent Tourism Trends

2.1 The Global Context

During the period between 1995 and 2013 international arrivals increased by 189% from528 million to 1 billion. In a recent United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO2011) report global tourism arrivals were projected to continue increasing to reach 1.8billion by 2030. Between 2010 and 2030 the share of international tourism received by theAsia Pacific region will increase from 22% to 30% while the number of outbound touristsfrom the region will grow from 204 million to 541 million.

2.2 The Study RegionFigure 1 (TNQ) illustrates the problem faced by the tourism sector in northern Australia. InDarwin the combined total of domestic and international arrivals in 2013 (524,000) was 9%


below those of 2000 (574,000). In Western Australia’s North West centred on Broom, 2013’scombined domestic and international arrivals were 300,000, down 30% on 2000 arrivals(426,000). The extent of the study region’s failure to match arrival figures for 2000 ismagnified when it is compared to international growth patterns over the same period.

Figure 1. Annual arrivals (domestic and international) and percentage change ininternational arrivals for Tropical North Queensland 1999- 2012

Source: Tourism Research Australia (2013)

Questions that arise from visitor patterns in the period 2000 to 2013Given that the study region’s tourism industry has not grown in the last 13 years thefollowing questions (Table 1) need to be addressed:

Table 1 Major questions in relation to tourism in the study region

?

-20%

-15%

-10%

-5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

-

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

3,000,000

19992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012

Year

Tropical North QLD (Region)

International

Domestic

Int' change in %

International change in %

1. Why has the region suffered a decline in its competitive position since 2000?2. Is further growth achievable?3. Is growth necessarily the best course for the future? If yes, what strategies are

required to maximise the study region’s comparative and competitive positions?4. What type of tourism experiences will consumers demand in the future?5. What externalities will have the greatest impact on tourism markets in the future?6. How will future externalities affect the study region’s competitiveness and what

preparations need to be undertaken to enable the region to prepare for significantchanges of this type?


These questions, but not the potential answers, provide the context for the followingdiscussion.

3. Discussion

3.1 Relationship between the past, present and future

While this paper has a very specific focus on the future it is useful to look into the past toidentify issues that may resurface, perhaps in a different form, and impact on the future.The GFC for example was only the latest of a number of economic crises that have impactedon the tourism industry. Given that it is possible to learn lessons from the past, this paperuses the relationships that exist between the past, present and future illustrated in Figure 1as a lens to identify the type of events that may lie in the future and that are likely to impacton the regional and global tourism sectors.

Figure 1 The relationship between the past, present and future in linear time

Source: Adapted from Prideaux (2009)

Figure 1 presents a very simplified view of the relationship between the past, present andfuture and argues that the present is the sum of how policy makers, the private sector andconsumers responded to the issues, opportunities, events and problems of the past withinthe policy and resource restraints and patterns of consumer demand that have shapedthese responses. Similarly, the future will be determined by the manner that today’sdecision makers deal with the problems and opportunities of today and those of the nearfuture. Given that there are multiple options for dealing with a particular problem or suiteof problems there is an opportunity for multiple futures. This observation indicates thatalthough the decisions we make today influence the future we may have only limitedcontrol over the eventual outcome. For example, policy may have unanticipated outcomes,

Past Present Possible futures?

The past is the sum of issues,opportunities, events and problemsthat were responded to in thetimespace before the present

The present is the sum of pastevents and responses and thestart point for how the future willdevelop

Observed andrecorded trends

Possible orprobable trendsand responses

The future will be determined by theway that the problems of today andthe near future are dealt with byconsumers, industry and governments

Policy, Constitutional and Resource Constraints

Changing consumer demand for tourism services

TIME


unanticipated shocks may affect the tourism system or a new innovation may create asignificant disruption in tourism markets.

Figure 1 also contains a cautionary element that decisions made about the future shouldavoid the rhetoric used by policy makers and managers to explain the failure, and successes,of the present. The future will have its own dynamics and offers the opportunity for a rangeof outcomes that will be determined by the decisions made in the present.

This understanding is vital if the questions raised in Table 1 are to be responded to by policymakers and the private sector in a way that capitalises on the study region’s comparativeadvantages and convert these into a competitive advantage that can underpin renewedgrowth.

3.2 Competitiveness

A key element in determining a destination or region’s ability to develop and retain marketsis its level of competitiveness (Ritchie and Crouch 2000). From a regional perspectivecompetitiveness in its most basic form is the ability of a region to identify its key sellingpropositions, identify markets that are likely to purchase these propositions, create amarket space where these products are able to be purchased, identify change and futurethreats, and have the ability to maintain this process over a long period of time in a mannerthat is both environmentally and economically sustainable. A region’s level ofcompetitiveness will determine the type and number and visitors it can expect to receive.Regions that lose their competitiveness face the possibility that they will begin to decline astheir existing markets seek more competitive alternatives. Conversely, regions that look fornew markets and products have the potential to thrive.

4 Methodology and Findings

4.1 Methodology

The research used a three step study methodology based on (1) a review of previousresearch; (2) an environmental scan to identify factors that could impact on the tourismsector in the future; and (3) interviews with 25 key public and private sector stakeholders inthe northern Australia tourism sector (for a detailed discussion see Prideaux 2013).

4.2 Findings

The following points summarise the major findings of this research:

The region’s natural environment does not appear to being used in an unsustainablemanner by the tourism sector.

This situation will change in the long-term as the impact of global warming isreflected in changes in the structure and resilience of the region’s ecosystems.


The long-term economic sustainability of the region’s tourism sector is beingadversely affected by the growing mismatch between consumer demand and whatthe region has chosen to supply.

In the long-term continued over-reliance on the region’s ecosystems to attracttourists is likely to lead to continued stagnation.

Stagnation can only be overcome with new investment targeted at new markets andoffering new experiences. Several proposed integrated resorts in the Cairns region(Aquis Resort and Ella Bay Resort) exemplify the type of large scale investment thatmay be required to reignite tourist demand in the study region.

The Chinese market offers significant potential for growth throughout the studyregion but the types of experiences currently offered will need refreshing to attractthis market.

The need for new activities and experiences to augment the study region’s currentsuite of environmental experiences has not been widely recognised.

The ongoing health of the region’s ecosystem is closely tied to the health of theregion’s tourism economy.

Factors that have led to the findings outlined above include: Many parts of the study region continue to display a reactive mentality with a

limited vision of the future. With a few notable exceptions there has been limited innovation in recent years. There appears to be a reluctance to accept that past plans and policies had failed to

ignite growth. The region’s traditional product mix, largely based on nature-based tourism, has

consistently failed to stimulate a new phase of growth. The need to develop new non-environment centred activities and experiences has

been largely neglected.

4.3 Observations and Challenges

It is apparent that there is a major gap between the views of key industry stakeholdersand the results outlined above. Before considering a way forward it is worth consideringthe following observations:

The future rarely takes the form predicted; Little thought has been given by the Australian tourism sector to many of the factors

that will impact on the future environmental and economic sustainability andcompetitiveness of the tourism industry, and;


Without proactive action the sector will continue to find itself in the position ofreacting to challenges, not taking advantage of new opportunities.

The challenge for stakeholders is to consider how the challenges of the future should beconfronted.

Other issues that arise from this research include:

The need to consult communities involved in tourism activity to establish the level ofsupport for increased tourism if further growth is retained as a policy objective;

Are tourism growth and economic and environmental sustainability mutuallycompatible objectives?

Will the impact of global warming degrade existing ecosystems and landscapes thatare currently tourism drawcards?

Will future generations of tourists be satisfied with the current range of tourismofferings?

Are data currently collected sufficiently robust to understand what is occurring atthe regional level and be used to facilitate predictions on what might happen in thefuture?;

Is there a need to build new platforms to identify future opportunities and threatsand pass these back to the industry?; and

Is sustainable tourism achievable in areas where other industries such as mining areable to generate greater economic returns?

5 Conclusion

Given that current policies and strategies have not succeeded in stimulating growth overthe last 13 years it is apparent that a reappraisal of the long-term direction of the studyregion’s tourism sector is required. Understanding the role of change is a fundamentalchallenge but one that must be addressed. The key steps required in such a reappraisalare to:

First, determine a vision for the tourism sector based either on maintaining the statusquo or embarking on growth. Answering the questions posed in Table 1 about visitorpatterns over the last decade will assist in this process.

Second, establish a mechanism for co-ordinating tourism strategies to assist in thisprocess.

Third, establish a regionally based research group to provide region relevant analysis ofthe tourism sector.


One way of developing an understanding of change and how it is currently and will in thefuture impact on tourism is to establish a region wide monitoring system able to produceregular reports based on data collected in the region as well as externally. The developmentof an annual or biannual scorecard is one tool that should be central to any monitoringsystem.

References

Aquis Resort (2013), http://aquisgreatbarrierreefresort.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Aquis-GBR-Resort_Project-Booklet_MedRes1.pdf accessed 10Oct 2013

IPCC (2013) Climate Change The Physical Science Basis Headline statements from thesummary for Policy Makershttp://www.ipcc.ch/news_and_events/docs/ar5/ar5_wg1_headlines.pdf accessed 16October 2013.

Long-Term Tourism Strategy http://www.ret.gov.au/tourism/documents/tmc/jackson-report-july09.pdf accessed 15 May 2013.Prideaux, B. (2009) Resort Destinations:Evolution, Management and Development, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford., pp1-310.

Prideaux, Bruce (2013) An investigation into factors that may affect the long termenvironmental and economic sustainability of tourism in northern Australia. WorkingPaper. Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia

Ritchie, J.R. Brent and Crouch, G.I. (2000) The competitive destination: A sustainabilityperspective, Tourism Management 21 (1), 1–7.

UNWTO (2011). Tourism Towards 2030 Global Overview. Madrid: UNWTO.


Northern Australia Agriculture Policy: Opportunities and Risks

Contact:

Email: [email protected]: 0409 093420

Jim Turnour, Adjunct Research Fellow, The Cairns Institute, James Cook University.PhD Candidate, Northern Futures Collaborative Research Network, The Cairns Institute, James Cook University.


1. IntroductionGovernment policy not always in obvious ways has played an important role in shaping agriculture innorthern Australia (NA). Trade, immigration and Indigenous policies have been important as haveeconomic investments in infrastructure and research, development and extension (RD&E). Thesepolicies have evolved over the past century influencing agriculture in different ways. This history isbriefly discussed to provide a context, prior to considering the current opportunities and risks foragriculture in NA.

Understanding and learning from the past is important as pioneering narratives continue toinfluence government policy in NA. This is despite the emergence of neoliberal policies over recentdecades that have had a profound influence more broadly on Australian agriculture. As in the past,there are important choices to be made by governments that will shape not only agriculture, butrelated communities and the type of society we have in NA.

The difficulties of farming in NA have been well documented with relatively infertile soils, variableand highly intense rainfall, intense radiation and soil temperatures and pests and diseases.Combined with distance from major markets and infrastructure constraints these all limitdevelopment (Chapman, Sturtz, Cogle, Mollah & Bateman, 1996; Cogle, Bateman & Heiner, 1991;Courtenay, 1978; Stewart, 1962; Webster, et al., 2009). These challenges have for decades limitedagriculture development to extensive pastoral grazing in the majority of the Northern Territory andWestern Australia. More intensive agricultural development has occurred in coastal northQueensland which is relatively closer to southern markets and has more favourable soils and climaticconditions. As a result, approximately 88% of the total agriculture production from NA is produced inQueensland (Table 1)1 where more than 70% of the region’s population resides (BITRE, 2011).

Today development opportunities are changing with the rise of Asia and improvements ininfrastructure and technologies (Commonwealth of Australia, 2013; Stephens, 2012). This mayenable the physical and climatic limitations of some of the more remote parts of the north to beovercome and there is renewed interest in a number of new agricultural precincts (Ag North, 2014).Large corporate investors are emerging as potentially major players in these developments (Barnett

1 Table originally published by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics. (2009).Northern Australia statistical compendium. Retrieved fromhttp://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/2009/other_003.aspx

Table 1. Northern Australia - production value of agriculture, by region, 2005-06

RegionAgriculture - totalvalue ($)

Crops - totalvalue ($)

Pasture, cerealand other cropscut for hay -total value ($)

Crops(excluding hay) -total value ($)

Nurseries, cutflowers andcultivated turf -total value ($)

Vegetables -total value ($)

Fruit - totalvalue ($)

Livestockslaughterings -total value ($)

Livestockproducts - totalvalue ($)

NORTH AUSTRALIA (W.A.) 178 105 879 58 951 713 2 364 689 56 587 024 1 532 788 44 673 843 2 803 589 117 719 657 1 434 507 PILBARA REGION 34 734 747 59 500 59 500 0 0 0 0 34 292 045 383 202 KIMBERLEY REGION 143 371 132 58 892 213 2 305 189 56 587 024 1 532 788 44 673 843 2 803 589 83 427 612 1 051 305WESTERN AUSTRALIA STATE TOTAL 5 793 283 205 3 930 320 942 162 294 080 3 768 026 862 190 988 933 292 398 834 261 650 155 1 213 352 135 649 610 127

NORTH AUSTRALIA (N.T.) 239 188 013 80 402 466 9 314 141 71 088 324 8 888 690 14 413 206 47 001 805 156 996 457 1 789 088 DARWIN-EAST ARNHEM REGION 83 311 690 45 697 084 3 903 162 41 793 921 8 061 378 4 297 837 28 856 612 35 828 659 1 785 946 KATHERINE-LOWER TOP END REGION 47 974 320 23 805 455 4 150 442 19 655 013 800 169 9 400 619 9 247 695 24 168 864 0 BARKLY-CENTRAL NT REGION 107 902 003 10 899 927 1 260 537 9 639 390 27 143 714 750 8 897 498 96 998 934 3 142NORTHERN TERRITORY STATE TOTAL 306 238 922 80 676 090 9 570 189 71 105 901 8 888 690 14 413 205 47 001 806 223 773 744 1 789 088

NORTH AUSTRALIA (QLD) 2 966 025 385 1 771 930 100 12 931 764 1 758 998 338 51 260 589 309 178 819 507 548 822 1 125 563 908 68 531 373 MACKAY REGION 883 227 929 569 655 762 4 739 287 564 916 476 10 717 914 211 435 080 34 057 858 308 092 238 5 479 926 NORTHERN REGION 626 728 875 470 038 306 1 987 024 468 051 284 8 513 977 67 363 336 20 774 879 150 319 893 6 370 675 FAR NORTHERN REGION 953 141 128 730 237 983 4 207 927 726 030 055 32 028 698 30 380 403 452 716 085 187 017 674 35 885 472 NORTH WEST 502 927 453 1 998 049 1 997 526 523 0 0 0 480 134 103 20 795 300 LONGREACH REGION 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0QUEENSLAND STATE TOTAL 8 708 905 011 4 167 944 688 114 726 487 4 053 218 201 297 033 120 945 026 775 910 769 470 4 125 157 859 415 802 464

NORTH AUSTRALIA SUB-TOTAL 3 383 319 277 1 911 284 279 24 610 594 1 886 673 686 61 682 067 368 265 868 557 354 216 1 400 280 022 71 754 968AUSTRALIA TOTAL 14 808 427 138 8 178 941 720 286 590 756 7 892 350 964 496 910 743 1 251 838 814 1 219 421 431 5 562 283 738 1 067 201 679

Source: ABS, 2008. Agricultural Commodities: Small Area Data, Australia, 2005-06 (Reissue), Cat. 7125.0


& Grylls, 2012; De Lacy, 2014). This could see a new form of agro-industrial development emerge inthe north challenging established stereotypes of Australian agriculture based on family farming.

While proposals are being put forward to develop new agricultural precincts there is also a need torecognise that many established rural communities and family farms are in decline (Gray& Lawrence,2001). Agriculture is changing driven by globalisation, industry deregulation, declining terms oftrade, technological innovation, consumer preferences and an aging farm population (ProductivityCommission, 2005). Family farmers who are resisting these changes are either getting bigger,working off farm, or developing new farming systems that emphasise environmental sustainability,food safety, value adding and diversification to generate new income streams and premium pricesfor agricultural products. The latter providing opportunities to consider alternate place-basedmodels of agricultural development in NA (Turnour, et al., 2014).

2. A brief history of agriculture in NAAustralian agriculture development policy can be broken up into three broad periods (BTRE, 2003).

2.1 Colonial policies (prior to the 1920s)Prior to the 1920s, white settlers pushed north to establish pastoral leases and plantations andChinese migrants began farming for a livelihood following the gold rush (Atherton CentenaryCommittee, 1985). This period involved frontier conflict with Aboriginals who were driven off theirland (Kid, 1997; Trudgen, 2000). The Queensland government in desperate need of income in the1800s supported the establishment of large plantation sugar mills built on indentured South SeaIslander labour. The advent of the White Australia policy after Federation forced the disbanding ofthese large plantation mills and a shift in government policy towards the establishment of familyfarms and cooperative marketing arrangements (Griggs, 2010).

2.2 Pre-trade liberalisation era (1920s to 1970s)The pre-trade liberalisation era between the 1920s and 1970s saw post war immigration combinedwith protectionist agricultural policies supported by government investment in infrastructure andRD&E. This enabled a rapid expansion of agriculture. In coastal north Queensland which was thephysically least difficult and economically least peripheral to southern markets, a large number ofsmall rural communities sprang up as migrants took up land to grow sugar cane, tobacco, field cropsand run dairy and beef cattle. The Mareeba Dimbula Irrigation Area was built and the Brigalowscheme was established in Central Queensland expanding farming and beef cattle production(Courtenay, 1978; Harrison & Longworth, 1977).

During this period government also sought to develop more remote parts of the Northern Territoryand Western Australia. Significant investments were made in infrastructure including the Ord RiverIrrigation Scheme (ORIS) and in RD&E through departments of agriculture and the CSIRO.Experiment stations and pilot farms were established to trial a great variety of crops but farmingstruggled in the NT and Western Australia due to distance from markets, pest and diseases and lessfavourable soils and climatic conditions.

2.3 Post trade liberalisation era (1980s to present)By the 1970s economists were becoming central to the policy making process and industriesincreasingly had to justify the assistance they received (Botterill, 2005). By the 1980s policy makingentered what has widely been described as a period of neoliberal economic reform of the Australianeconomy including agriculture (Beeson & Firth, 1998). Successive Australian governments haveopened up the economy to increasing global competition through deregulating markets,privatisation, labour market reforms and free trade agreements.


These economic reforms have led to a decline in many parts of rural and regional Australia as smallerfarms have struggled to compete and governments have cut services (Gray & Lawrence 2001;Lawrence, 1987). Improved transport and technology has also changed work practices and the waythat people can access goods and services contributing to the decline of many smaller rural towns(BITRE, 2014).

Governments responded to this decline through the implementation of regional developmentpolicies in the 1990s (Beer, et al., 2005). Regional Development Australia is the most recent attemptat this approach (RDA, 2013). Governments have tended through regional programs to devolveresponsibility for planning while maintaining overall power and control over funding and decisionmaking. This has limited the capacity of programs to empower regional communities and meant thatat times, funding has been used to address political problems rather than long term strategicregional agendas (Beer, Clower, Haughtow & Maude, 2005; Maude, 2004).

During the 1980s and 1990s environmentalism also emerged as a social movement that began to callinto question the sustainability of many agricultural practices. The National Landcare and PropertyManagement Planning programs began to encourage farmers to take responsibility for thesustainable management of their natural resources and environment (Lockie & Higgins, 2007). Todayregional natural resource management bodies have been established across the country andsignificant investments are being made to improve agricultural practices (Dale, McKee, Vella & Potts,2013). As a result, governments, industry and the community are much more aware of the risks ofinappropriate agricultural development on the environment.

3. Future agriculture policy for northern AustraliaGovernment policies will be as important in shaping the future of agriculture in the north as theywere in the past. The Green paper on developing northern Australia provides a guide to the currentgovernment’s thinking (Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2014a). The paper focuses oncreating the right environment to enable private sector investment for new developments with aparticularly focus on emerging opportunities in Asia.

There will need to be important decisions made about existing industries as well as newdevelopment opportunities. These could be competing agendas or synergistic depending on theapproach adopted. Indigenous and immigration policies are re-emerging as important influences onthe type and shape of potential developments. Indigenous Australians have legal rights and interestsin the majority of land in NA (Walker et al., 2013) and must now be engaged in decision makingabout any new developments. They are also major landowners in their own rights and there areopportunities to increase production and profitability from Indigenous owned lands (NAILSMA,2014). Immigration policy could also play an important role in new developments as there are signsthat foreign investors are wanting to use overseas labour to support new large scale agriculturaldevelopments as part of negotiations around fee trade agreements (Beder, 2014).

Different visions for NA agriculture development are emerging. The seemingly more populistapproach detailed in the Coalition's 2030 Vision for Developing Northern Australia (Liberal NationalParty, 2013) and reflected in 2013 Labor Party Northern Australia election policies (Liberal NationalParty, 2013) would see significant new government investment in irrigation infrastructure and R&D.This vision of the north as a food bowl although populist has risks. A more modest vision foragriculture development in the north was set out in the Northern Australia Land and WaterTaskforce Report. This vision developed by industry, Indigenous and conservation interests andunderpinned by a CSIRO Science Review would rely on governments improving the investment


environment for smaller scale agricultural development through for example RD&E and regulatoryand tenure reform (NALWT, 2009).

The diversity of the north and the competing visions and narratives of vested interests can makeuntangling fact from fiction difficult. There is a need to maximise the contribution of establishedindustries while also looking to new development opportunities. This requires an assessment of notonly the physical and economic constraints and opportunities but a consideration of developmentproposals in the context of evolving social and environmental values.

3.1 Irrigation and a northern food bowlFor generations political and public discussion around developing agriculture in NA has centred onthe idea of the north becoming a food bowl for Asia. Proposals for new agriculture developments inthe north, however, differ from earlier periods in that the focus of developments is now often largescale corporate foreign investment rather than the establishment of family farms and ruralcommunities as occurred during the pre-trade liberalisation era post the second world war. The$700 million Ord Stage 2 development, for example, led by the Chinese Kimberly AgriculturalInvestments is underpinned by $311 million in funding from the Western Australian GovernmentRoyalties for Regions Program (Barnett & Grylls, 2013). Large corporate investors are similarlyseeking government support for other projects, for example, the Integrated Food and EnergyDevelopment project in the Gilbert Catchment of Queensland (De Lacy, 2014). The emerging NAAgriculture Cooperative Research Centre bid is structured to attract corporate investors and isfocused on development in agriculture precincts with irrigation potential (Ag North, 2014).

Irrigation is essential to any large scale expansion of agriculture in the north as the region's climateand soils make dry land farming unreliable (Webster et al., 2009). Large scale dam based irrigationschemes, however, have been economically unviable without significant government investment inthe water infrastructure. A recent study of the Flinders and Gilbert Rivers in Queensland againconfirmed this analysis (CSIRO, 2013). An earlier assessment of the ORIS found that between 1958and 1991 it incurred a combined public private loss of $687.2 million in 2009 dollars corrected forinflation (Webster et al., 2009). It is not surprising then that new private investments like thatoccurring in Ord Stage 2 have been contingent on government funding. Initial estimates of the costsof new in stream dams to develop irrigated agriculture in the Gilbert River catchment is one billiondollars. It is estimated that between 20,000 to 30,000 hectares of cropping could be established andreliably irrigated in 85% of years because of high rainfall variability (CSIRO, 2013).

Further investments may also be required in roads and social infrastructure including schools andhealth facilities if irrigation was to be expanded in NA to support associated increases in population.Alternatively, foreign investors may want to import foreign labour to undertake new agriculturaldevelopments (Wroe &Whyte, 2014). This would likely require new immigration policies potentiallyadding to concerns in relation to foreign investment in Australian agriculture (Keogh, 2012).

Large scale irrigated agriculture developments also bring with them significant environmental risks.These are difficult to quantify and can take decades to emerge. Any new developments will requirestringent environmental impact assessments so that the mistakes of southern irrigation schemes donot occur in the north (Rayner, 2013). Given these risks and a history of poor returns on investmentit makes sense for the Australian government to resist populous calls for large investments in newirrigation projects, particularly given the current fiscal context (Hockey, 2014).

3.2 Mosaic agriculture and maximising returns from the beef industry


The Northern Australia Land and Water Taskforce examined the opportunities for development innorthern Australia based on a more modest vision for agricultural development. The Taskforcebrought together industry, Indigenous and environment interests and worked with a CSIRO scientificreview team to develop a new vision for NA based on available land and water resources. Thetaskforce focused on the more remote parts of northern Australia with already well developedcoastal Queensland excluded from its Terms of Reference (NALWT, 2009).

It estimated that approximately 40,000 to 60,000 ha of irrigated agriculture could be developed inNA. An initial increase over 20 years could raise the gross value of agricultural production by 40%from 2000 levels based on new agriculture production systems reliant on rapid advances inbiotechnology and farm management practices. If the industry doubled in size over 20 years, 1,400full-time jobs would be created, the regional population could increase by an extra 2,200 people andthe gross regional product would increase by about $185 million (Webster et al., 2009).

The Taskforce presented an alternative vision to major agro-industrial development based on dams.Irrigation, it found, was more likely to be sustainably develop based on a large number of small scaleground water fed irrigation systems. These smaller scale irrigation developments could complementestablished industries (NALWT, 2009). For example productivity in the northern beef industry couldbe significantly increased through irrigated fodder cropping and provide feed products to the liveexport trade.

Opportunities to increase profitability and productivity within established agricultural industriesoften gets overlooked in discussion about developing NA. Many of these industries have struggledfor survival as a result of industry deregulation but are now more productive and are well placed toprofit from emerging Asian markets. On the Atherton Tablelands only 51 farmers remain supplyingthe Malanda dairy factory where there were 186 in 2000 just prior to industry deregulation. Thesugar industry is similarly facing a decline in farm numbers as farmers retire and businesses strugglefor survival post deregulation (Turnour et al., 2014).

Family farm businesses have adopted three distinct strategies to continue farming depending ontheir capabilities and attitudes to risk. They have sought off-farm employment, increased their scaleof production or sought to diversify into niche markets. Some farmers have adopted one or acombination of these strategies. No matter which strategy is adopted, understanding and leveragingthe advantages of place has become more important. The Atherton Tablelands dairy industry hasleveraged its competitive advantage in the supply of fresh milk to north and west Queensland tosurvive.

Where farmers have been able to develop new niche markets these have been linked to new place-based regional supply chains leveraging premium prices for organic products and the regionstourism industry. Industries see opportunities to expand these regional supply chains into Asia andthe Pacific but need support to further develop markets, supply chains and farming systems(Turnour et al., 2014).

3.3 Place-based regional developmentPlace-based approaches encourage collaboration between a range of different actors includingindustry, community, businesses and government to tackle complex social, economic andenvironmental problems within a defined geographic location (Barca, McCann & Rodríguez‐Pose,2012; Tomaney, 2010). They have been adopted as a framework for natural resource managementin Australia and are integral to the new Australian Government’s Indigenous Advancement Strategy(Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2014b). Internationally they have been identified as


providing an alternative approach to tackling entrenched agriculture and rural community decline asa result of globalisation and economic reforms by supporting regions to leverage their innatecompetitive advantages (OECD, 2006).

In Far North Queensland a place-based agriculture development framework has been developed toidentify and support the emergence of new agriculture markets, supply chains and farming systems.The framework provides opportunities to leverage additional value from agriculture particularly forfamily farmers through value adding, niche marketing and diversification not only within agriculturebut across sectors including tourism, manufacturing and emerging ecosystem services markets(McCarthy, 2014; Turnour et al., 2014).

Historically Australian agriculture has relied on maintaining its competitive advantage by continuallyincreasing productivity whilst marketing its products through bulk commodity markets. Theemerging Asian middle classes, however, are not necessarily seeking cheap food but safe highquality products for which they are prepared to pay a premium (The Economist Intelligence Unit,2013). Place-based regional development approaches provide an opportunity to identify and supportthe development of these niche high value markets based on regional competitiveness.

National and international research has identified a range of factors that determine a region'scompetitiveness including social and human capital, enabling infrastructure and natural resourcesand strong regional governance and institutions (Enright & Petty, 2013; OECD, 2012; RegionalAustralia Institute, 2013a; Turnour, et al., 2014). An analysis of NA’s competitiveness by the RegionalAustralia Institute (2013b) identified investment in infrastructure and human capital as beingparticularly important to unlock NA’s potential. Their report highlighted the need for a regionalapproach to development that recognised the diverse challenges and opportunities within thedifferent parts of NA.

4. ConclusionsCommunities in the north welcome the renewed interest in developing NA. It is important howeverthat we move beyond old myths about big dams and northern food bowls. There are opportunitiesfor new developments and to leverage greater value from established agriculture industries. If this isto be achieved, additional investments are needed to develop new markets, supply chains andfarming systems.

Development policy needs to be able to respond to the different opportunities and risks presentedby the diversity of regions and communities in NA. Place-based regional development approachesprovide one way to achieve this by engaging local communities in planning and development basedon regional competitive advantage. Importantly, applying place-based approaches to agriculturaldevelopment in the NA would align agriculture policy with natural resource management andIndigenous policy approaches, both critically important to the successful sustainable development ofNA.

5. Recommendations1. That place-based agricultural development approaches be adopted so as to identify and leverage

regional competitive advantages and to ensure effective industry and community engagement indecision making.

2. That agricultural development in NA be driven by markets and supply chains with a particularfocus on developing niche high quality markets for Asia rather than Australia’s traditional focuson increasing productivity within bulk commodity markets to remain competitive.


3. Agricultural development requires secure access to resources including land and water. Tenurereform may, therefore, be required in some circumstances to not only support development butto set aside areas for conservation. State governments should use market mechanisms toallocate water resources allowing smaller mosaic developments to compete fairly against largeragricultural developments.

4. That established industries, not just green field developments, be a focus of NA agriculturaldevelopment.

5. Where major green field agriculture developments are considered, decisions should be based onsound economic, environmental and social impact assessments not driven by populousnarratives about northern food bowls.


6. ReferencesAg North. (2014). Ag North Cooperative Research Centre proposal. Retrieved from

http://www.agnorthcrc.com/files/AgNorth%20Brochure_FA(web).pdf

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Australian Labor Party. (2013). Growing the north: A plan for northern Australia. Barton, ACT:Australian Labor Party. Retrieved fromhttp://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/australianlaborparty/pages/935/attachments/original/1376536954/Fact_Sheet_-_Growing_the_North.pdf?1376536954.

Barca, F., McCann, P., & Rodríguez‐Pose, A. (2012). The case for regional development intervention:Place‐based versus place‐neutral approaches. Journal of Regional Science, 52(1), 134-152.doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9787.2011.00756.x

Barnett, C., & Grylls, B. (2013). Ord development takes important step. Ministerial media statement.Retrieved fromhttp://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/pages/StatementDetails.aspx?listName=StatementsBarnett&StatId=7425

Beder, S. (2014, April 13). Beware sting in tail of free trade agreements, Sydney Morning Herald.Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/comment/beware-stings-in-tail-of-free-trade-agreements-20140413-36lkl.html

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Beeson, M., & Firth, A. (1998). Neoliberalism as a political rationality: Australian public policy sincethe 1980s. Journal of Sociology, 34(3), 215-231. doi: 10.1177/144078339803400301

Botterill, L. (2005). Policy change and network termination: The role of farm groups in agriculturalpolicy making in Australia. Australian Journal of Political Science, 40(2), 207-219. doi:10.1080/10361140500129982

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Bureau of Infrastructure Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE). (2014). The evolution ofAustralian towns, report 136. Canberra, ACT: BITRE. Retrieved fromhttp://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/2014/files/report_136.pdf

Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics (BTRE). (2003). Government interventions in pursuit ofregional development: Learning from experience, working paper 55. Canberra:Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved fromhttp://www.rdasouthwest.com.au/_content/documents/Working%20Paper%2055%20-%20Govt%20interventions.

Chapman, A., Sturtz, J., Cogle, A., Mollah, W., & Bateman, R. (1996). Farming systems in theAustralian semi-arid tropics - a recent history. Animal Production Science, 36(8), 915-928.doi: 10.1071/EA9960915


Cogle, A., Bateman, R., & Heiner, D. (1991). Conservation cropping systems for the semi-arid tropicsof north Queensland, Australia. Animal Production Science, 31(4), 515-523. doi:10.1071/EA9910515

Commonwealth of Australia. (2013). Australia in the Asian century white paper. Canberra:Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved from http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/white-paper

Courtenay, P. P. (1978). Agriculture in north Queensland. Australian Geographical Studies, 16(1), 29-42. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8470.1978.tb00313.x

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Themes in development of the agricultural and resource sectors in NorthernAustralia

Background and Scope:The agriculture and resources sector (including mining) play a major role in the economies ofnorthern Australia, and underpin many regional and rural communities. There has been a longhistory of programs and infrastructure to develop agriculture in the north; however the majority ofagricultural land use is still for low intensity grazing. Among the key limitations are available soil andwater resources, climate, access to markets, lack of infrastructure, and environmental and land useconstraints.

Levels of agricultural development in northern Australia remain very low. The conundrum that facesgovernment planners is that Northern Australia also holds great potential. There are substantial landand water resources, potential for future development of energy and minerals resources, closeproximity to Asian markets, and a younger population than in southern Australia.

This paper provides a broad review of the constraints and opportunities for development innorthern Australia through an economic lens. Using a desk top review, the focus is to identify keythemes that can be used to understand the current situation and future prospects. The reviewsummarises several approaches in economic analysis to northern development issues.

The viability of agricultural development in the northBroadscale pastoral activities account for the bulk of land use in northern Australia, with beef cattlegrazing the predominant industry. The region accounts for about 60% of Australia’s beef herd onjust over a quarter of Australia’s beef cattle properties with a gross value of production of about $5billion in 2009-10 (Gleeson, Martin and Mifsud 2012). Outside of the Queensland coast and theadjacent inland in central and southern Queensland, cropping is almost non-existent in northernAustralia. Key areas of note are the Ord River Irrigation area in Western Australia, the Katherine-Douglas-Daly area in the Northern Territory, and the Mareeba-Dimbulah Irrigation area in northernQueensland. While irrigated crops account for the bulk of non-pastoral agriculture in northernAustralia, the total area irrigated was only about 34,000 hectares in 2010, less than 0.03% of theland area of northern Australia and about 1.3% of the total area irrigated for agriculture nationally(Webster et al. 2009).

The reasons why agriculture development is limited and slow in northern Australia are wellcanvassed. Webster et al. (2009) and Cook (2009) summarise the agronomic issues in terms of poorsoil fertility as a result of millennia of monsoonal rain, low infiltration rates, high rates of solarradiation and evaporation, low water use efficiency, low water availability in the dry season, andharsh climatic conditions. Other issues relate to distances to markets and suppliers, transport costsand the lack of supporting services and infrastructure.

However, a number of researchers have pointed out that there is substantial suitable land and waterresources in northern Australia to enable further irrigated agricultural development (e.g. Webster etal. 2009; Abel and Rolfe 2009). Webster et al. (2009) estimated that there is approximately 17million hectares of soil suitable for annual crops in northern Australia, and a further 32 millionhectares suitable for forestry. However limited water availability means that only about 1% of thispotential could be realised through irrigation. The proximity of northern Australia to emerging

Professor John Rolfe, School of Business and Law, Central Queensland University.


markets in Asia has underpinned the development of the live export trade, with potential for furthersubstantial development.

A key reason for the lack of growth in northern agriculture is the low level of economic returns(Queensland Government 2014). McCosker et al. (2010) noted in a review of the northern beefindustry that financial performance in the decade from 2000 to 2009 was at the lowest level sincethe beef slump of the 1970s, with a return on assets of less than 1 percent in 2008. Costs ofproduction have increased substantially, almost doubling from $0.70/kg in the 1970s to $1.20/kg by2009 (McCosker et al. 2010). As well rural debt has increased significantly (Queensland Government2014). Other issues that limit the development potential for agriculture in the north of Australiainclude issues around land tenure and potential environmental impacts, and the regulatoryprocesses around these issues.

Trends in productivity growthAgricultural production in northern Australia has grown in past decades, despite declining terms oftrade and decreasing productivity growth. Declining terms of trade mean that output prices havetended to fall relative to input prices, requiring productivity to increase to maintain competitiveness.While productivity growth in northern agriculture has been positive, rates of growth have beendeclining in recent decades, in line with trends in Australian agriculture (Nossel and Sheng 2010).

Nossal et al. (2008) reported that productivity in the northern beef industry was close to zerobetween 1977-78 and 1995-96, but increased to about 1.4 percent between 1995-96 and 2006-08following the development of the live cattle trade. Gleeson, Martin and Mifsud (2012) report thattotal factor productivity for the northern beef region grew by an average of 1.3 percent from 1977-78 to 2009-10. Underpinning the rate of growth were the adoption of the Bos indicus cattle, thelower turnoff weights associated with the development of the live export market, and adoption ofimproved technology and management associated with higher cash flows.

There is some evidence of large variations in rates between different types of enterprises. Gregg andRolfe (2011) analysed productivity in selected beef enterprises in Queensland and identified annualproductivity growth of 3.8 percent per annum, largely from technological progress (accounting for2.7 percent per annum). Nossal et al. (2008) report that rates of productivity growth vary byproduction scale, with the larger producers (800 to 1600 head) and largest producers (more than1600 head) achieving rates of growth of 5.03 and 3.21 percent per annum respectively, while smallproducers had negative productivity growth.

Government support for northern developmentProponents of developing agriculture in northern Australia have often enlisted government support,with the Federal takeover of the Northern Territory in 1911 driven in part by concerns over the slowpace of agricultural develop (Cook 2009). There has been substantial government attention ondevelopment in the north, with waves of action in the form of relevant government committees anddevelopment proposals. For example the Forster Committee was established to develop a blue printfor the development of agriculture in the Northern Territory in the 1950s, the Ord River Scheme wasconstructed in Western Australia in the 1970s, the Commonwealth and Queensland Governmentsestablished the North Queensland Irrigation Agriculture Strategy in 2010 to explore the potential forirrigation schemes on the Flinders and Gilbert Rivers in north-western Queensland, and the OrdStage 3 is currently being built.


Development activities have rarely met economic criteria. Bruce Davidson, an economist, was criticalof the lack of economic justification for the development of the Ord River Scheme in his 1965 book“The Northern Myth: a study of the physical and economic limits to agricultural and pastoraldevelopment in tropical Australia”. His pessimistic analysis about the constraints on northerndevelopment was prescient, as the Ord River has failed to develop into a substantial agriculturalregion despite substantial government support.

The failure of the Ord River Scheme in economic terms has generated more attention to theenvironmental and resource constraints and difficulties of developing agriculture in northernAustralia. Wittwer and Banerjee (2014) note that despite the Ord River Scheme being projected toemploy more than 1,000 agricultural workers by 2060, only 179 workers or 4.8% of the localWyndham Shire workforce were employed in agriculture (including beef cattle grazing) at the 2011census. The issues with the live export market have highlighted the vulnerability of regionalindustries to market conditions and export opportunities, while the 2014 closure of the aluminarefinery at Gove (the largest private employment site in the Northern Territory) highlights thechallenges of operating in high cost environments and remote locations.

Categorising government support for northern agricultureGovernment support for agriculture in northern Australia has taken many forms over the pastcentury. The largest and most visible forms of support have been infrastructure developments,particularly for large scale irrigation such as in the Ord River. The development of transportinfrastructure, particularly roads and ports, has also been instrumental in linking agriculturalproducers with markets.

Apart from infrastructure, the most important form of government support has been in research anddevelopment in agricultural and environmental sciences. The physical and climatic conditions in thenorth require specialised crops and agronomic practices, as well as knowledge about the land andwater assets and the environmental pressures.

Other forms of government support have included industry support programs and developmentinitiatives, environmental, disease and weed control programs, and more general provision of publicservices and infrastructure.

The limited growth in agricultural production in the north over the past fifty years indicates thatsubstantial amounts of public investment and funding to date have been wasted, endorsingDavidson’s concerns that the focus on agricultural development did not take proper account of theconstraints and risks involved. The failures demonstrate that governments can make poor decisionsabout priorities for future development. In part this is because politicians and bureaucrats facedifferent incentives and requirements for knowledge compared to private producers.

Setting directions for future development

The political interest in agricultural development in the north remains high, driven to a large extentby the same strategic, emotive and optimistic themes that have underpinned successive governmentinquiries and initiatives in the past century. As well, concerns that climate change will reduceagricultural production in southern Australia has prompted renewed interest in developing a


northern ‘food bowl’. This has culminated in the announcement by the Australian Government inFebruary 2014 that a Northern Australia White Paper would be developed1.

The failures of previous government initiatives and concerns about environmental constraints showthat caution is required about the potential for further agricultural development. Past history hasshown that it is not enough to provide infrastructure and subsidised water; agronomic,environmental and logistical constraints remain as major hurdles. Policy failures appear to beparticularly pronounced for greenfields projects involving new crops and production areas; thissuggests that caution is needed when promoting greenfields projects over further development ofexisting industries. Previous approaches have essentially had the Government ‘picking winners’, withplanners then surprised subsequent private enterprises fail.

The Queensland Government (2014) has identified four key priorities for further development of thebeef industry in Queensland; this provides a starting point for identifying the key challenges.

Improving access to resources, including land and water resources, as well as better accessto capital and investment.

Improving productivity by investing in new research, promoting best practices to producers,intensifying production, and supporting processing expansion.

Improving market access by building relationships, advocating for market access andmaintaining and promoting food safety standards.

Reducing costs by improving transport efficiency, developing better freight strategies andreducing red tape.

These are important priorities for developing established industries, but do not provide sufficientguidance about where governments should be involved. Agricultural development will requireprivate enterprises to be enterprising and successful, whether for greenfields projects or furtherdevelopment. Here six key principles that relate to the decisions of private enterprises are identified.

- Access to resources and certain property rights are essential to attract new investment.Access includes both the physical access to land, water and capital resources, as well asbetter information about the extent, quality and availability of those resources.

- Financial returns are the key driver of investment and production decisions. Reliable andimproved access to markets is required to underpin any agricultural development.

- Control over costs is essential to the longer term performance of an industry. Agriculturehas little ability to pass on increases in input costs, so key policy priorities should be to limitcost increases.

- Ongoing improvements in productivity are required to make sectors viable in the face oflonger term declines in the terms of trade. Improvements in productivity can be generatedin a number of ways through better efficiencies in the supply chain as well as improvementsat the enterprise level.

- Risks and uncertainties need to be minimised. This can be achieved in a number of ways,through provision of rigorous planning, better information, and ongoing research programsto improve productivity.

- Investment priorities should be analysed in rigorous and transparent ways. Economicevaluation should be conducted for all proposed developments, using tools such as costbenefit analysis. This will help to prioritise the proposals that deliver the largest public andprivate returns, ensure public investments generate positive returns, and providetransparency of analysis for industry and decision makers.

1 See: https://www.pm.gov.au/media/2014-02-28/northern-australia-white-paper-underway-0


References

Abel, N. and Rolfe, J. 2009. Public and Private conservation of aquatic systems in northern Australia:threats and opportunities, in Northern Australia Land and Water Science Review, CSIRO, Canberra.

Cook, G. 2009. Historical perspectives on land use developments in northern Australia: withemphasis on the Northern Territory, in Northern Australia Land and Water Science Review, CSIRO,Canberra.

Davidson, B. 1965. The Northern Myth: a study of the physical and economic limits to agriculturaland pastoral development in tropical Australia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK.

Gleeson, T., Martin, P. and Mifsud, C. (2012). Northern Australian Beef Industry: Assessment of risksand opportunities. Report prepared for the Northern Australia Ministerial Forum, Australian Bureauof Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra.

Gregg, D. and Rolfe, J. 2011 Identifying sources and trends for productivity growth in a sample ofQueensland broad-acre beef enterprises, Animal Production Science, 51: 443-453.

Nossal, K. and Sheng, Y. 2010. Productivity growth: Trends, drivers and opportunities for broadacreand dairy industries, Australian Commodities, 17(1): 216-230.

Nossal, K., Sheng, Y. and Zhao, S. 2008. Productivity in the beef cattle and slaughter lamb industries.ABARE research report 08.13. Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Canberra.

Queensland Government 2014. Draft Beef Industry Action Plan 2014-2016, Report complied by ChrisChilcott, Cathy Waide and Renata Berglass, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry,Brisbane.

Webster, T., Morison, J., Abel, N., Clark, E., Rippin, L., Herr, A., Taylor, B. and Stone, P. (2009).Irrigated Agriculture: development opportunities and implications for northern Australia, in NorthernAustralia Land and Water Science Review, CSIRO, Canberra.

Wittwer, G. and Banerjee, O. (2014). Investing in irrigation development in North West Queensland,Australia, Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, in press.


Education Futures in Northern Australia

IntroductionThe ways in which development is conceived in the coalition’s Green Paper onNorthern Australia (2013) is via three major ideas: developing a food bowl,growing the tourism industry, and building our internal and exportable energycapacity. Importantly for this paper, three allied issues are also addressed. Theyare:• Establishing medical research facilities;• Creating an education hub;• Growing technical skills for the resources sector and agriculture.The Green paper emphasises; Building the population of the north; Developing an education hub (referring specifically to technicaland higher education);What the Green paper does not say is; The building of social and cultural capital of the young people ofNorthern Australia is essential for long term development; and The most effective educational interventions are those in the earlyyears.This paper addresses specifically, the creation of an education hub in northernAustralia. It expands on the Green Paper’s concept of an education hub, toinclude important issues in any development concept: the provision of earlychildhood education and care, primary and secondary education. A second paper

addresses the need for expanded VET and higher education offerings. In order toattract and retain population in the north, the provision of education at all levelsneeds to be planned. In light of this assertion, we have the following informationand recommendations.Background issuesThe following points have been made in relation to population growth:

By 2050 half the population of northern Australia will be Indigenous(Submission from the Northern Territory Government to the FederalGovernment Agricultural Competitiveness Issues Paper, April, 2014).• There is a low proportion of northern Australians with science andtechnology qualifications and poor access to the digital economy. Theimplication being that science education and no doubt other types ofeducation are not so good in the north and inadequate for development.We need to strengthen science capacity and educational standards in

Sue McGinty, School of Indigenous Australian Studies,Claire Campbell, School ofEducation, Margaret Carter, School of Education, Helen McDonald, School of Education,James Cook University.


general in northern Australia and to build a stronger science/decision-making interface within the tropics (Babacan et al., 2012).The facts are:• There are lower NAPLAN Scores across the board in northern Australiaand higher school dropout rates;• Nearly 70% of remote Indigenous students in Year 9 are not meetingnational minimum standards for reading. This is compared to 80% ofYear 9 Indigenous students in metropolitan areas performing at or abovethis level. The more remote, the bigger the gap becomes (Riddle, 2014);• The growth of the Indigenous population over the next 15 years isexpected to reach 1 million Australia wide, that is double the rate of thenon-indigenous population - mostly in the south but there will bedramatic increases in the north;• In a number of Indigenous communities in the north many children sufferfrom foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and other developmentaldisorders. Education programs such as that of the Fitzroy ValleyCommunity combine research with intervention for community controland management (Elliott, 2012).Will the long-term social and intellectual capital of the three northern regions ofWA, NT, and QLD be achieved by just bringing in talent from the south?Without a strong school education policy, there could be:• An underclass of local citizens if education standards are not raised;• Local jobs will continue to be taken by backpackers;• An unemployable local citizenry; and• A continued push by prominent Indigenous leaders to educate youngpeople in southern boarding schools (The majority of whom do notcomplete and often dropout of school early).There are three issues and policy considerations that this paper advocates in anyproposed development of the north: Early childhood education and care Primary and secondary education Indigenous educationEach of these areas is discussed in terms of key issues and policy directions. Early Childhood Education and CareIn recent years it has been identified that Australia’s early childhood educationand care (ECEC) sector is underperforming in comparison with otherOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries(OECD, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2013). In 2009, Australia was noted as being in thebottom 17% of OECD countries for expenditure on ECEC as a percentage of GDP(OECD, 2013). Furthermore, in 2010 Australia was in the bottom 15% of OECD


countries for enrolment rates of 4-year-olds in ECEC settings (OECD, 2013). Also,it is widely known that Australian families experience unnecessary difficulty infinding high quality, affordable and flexible ECEC services close to their homesand/or workplaces (Australian Government, 2013).Whilst Australia faces significant ECEC issues nation-wide, northern Australia isfurther challenged by high percentages of vulnerable children, high Indigenouspopulations and remote locations. The 2012 Australian Early Development Index(AEDI) (now known as the Australian Early Development Census [AEDC]) showsthat the Northern Territory and Queensland have the highest rates of childrenconsidered to be ‘developmentally vulnerable on one or more domains’ of allAustralian states and territories at 35.5% and 26.2% respectively (AustralianGovernment, 2013). In comparison to their interstate counterparts, Queenslandstudents in primary school were found to be more developmentally vulnerableand underachieving in English, Mathematics and Science (Department ofEducation and Training [DET], 2011). The National Report for 2013 NationalAssessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results reveals that theNorthern Territory has consistently and significantly been outperformed by allother states and territories in all areas of reading, persuasive writing, languageconventions and numeracy (ACARA, 2013) since data collection commenced in2008. Whilst this latest report indicates Queensland has somewhat ‘caught up’with achievement levels comparable to Western Australia, South Australia andTasmania, the state is still experiencing achievement issues surrounding remoteand very remote locations, vulnerable children and Indigenous children.Evidently, there are challenges for ECEC Australia-wide, but particularly more sofor northern Australia.The Australian Government has responded to these findings in a number ofways. Nationally, the National Education Agreement of January 2009 saw thedevelopment of the Australian Curriculum to promote excellence in Australianschools as part of the Rudd Government’s Education Revolution. Also, the thenFederal Minister for Education, the Hon. Julia Gillard MP, commissioned a reviewof the funding arrangements for schools to promote excellent educationaloutcomes for all Australian students (Department of Education, Employment,and Workplace Relations [DEEWR], 2011, p. xi). In 2013, Treasurer JosephHockey requested the Productivity Commission undertake the Inquiry into ChildCare and Early Childhood Learning in order to establish “more flexible, affordableand accessible child care and early childhood learning market” that better meetsthe needs of Australian families (Productivity Commission, 2013, p.iii). The DraftReport (released 22 July 2014) puts forward some workable ideas, however, thefocus is clearly on women’s participation in the workforce rather than it beingevery Australian child’s right to have access to high quality care and education intheir community. Also, attention needs to move beyond the mere provision ofservices and focus more on the nature and quality of them (Tayler, 2013).Also in 2013, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) endorsed theNational Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education,which focuses on improved participation rates in high quality early childhoodeducation programs in the year prior to full-time schooling by Australia’s most


vulnerable and disadvantaged children (Australian Government, 2014). Thelatest Queensland (Department of Education, Training and Employment [DETE],2012) and Northern Territory Annual Reports (Department of Education andChildren’s Services [DECS], 2012) indicate that some progress is being made,however, the issues and increased costs of having small populations in widelydispersed areas and higher proportions of Indigenous, vulnerable anddisadvantaged children in these two jurisdictions continues to impede progress.“On average, it costs the Northern Territory about three times as much as themajority of other Australian jurisdictions expend to provide [ECEC] services”(DECS, 2012, p. 12)In response to the Universal Access to Early Childhood Education initiative, theECEC sector in Queensland is undergoing a period of transformation, renewaland growth due to both state and national government funding (DET, 2011). TheQueensland Government acknowledges the significance of high-quality earlychildhood education and care to future success in school and later life in its AFlying Start for Queensland Children: Queensland Government Education WhitePaper (DET, 2011). The first of three key objectives outlined in the white paper is“making kindy available for all Queensland children” (DET, 2011, p. 4).Consequently, in an effort to boost participation rates in ECEC settings theCommonwealth and Queensland Governments committed approximately $900million – the biggest investment in the state’s history – to create newkindergarten services in the state by 2014. This initiative resulted in around 85new kindergartens being opened which boosted kindy participation rates upfrom 29% in 2008 to 77% in 2012. Several more kindergartens opened in 2013on both state and private school sites.Key Challenges and Policy DirectionsWhilst there has been progress and increased enrolments in kindergarten andpreparatory settings across northern Australia, the issue of high qualityeducation and care for children under 4-years-old prevails. There are not enoughplaces for young children in high quality child care centres that are affordableand conveniently located. Furthermore, the sector experiences difficulty insecuring and retaining high quality, qualified staff as the wages are so low(Australian Government, 2013). With Australia being one of the lowest investorsin ECEC of all OECD countries, at around 0.1% of GDP compared to the 0.5%average for all OECD countries (OECD, 2013), clearly more investment is neededto address the issues evident in the sector.Participation in high quality ECEC directly affects brain development, createsstrong foundations, supports human potential and contributes to communitycohesion (Tayler, 2008). It promotes equity, reduces poverty, boosts schoolachievement, enhances wellbeing, improves social mobility and advances futurelife trajectories (OECD, 2012, 2013). The ECEC sector in northern Australia mustbe strengthened in ways that are sensitive to the unique challenges that ourregion faces. The children of northern Australia deserve support that enablesprogress and enhances their life prospects.


Although there is no one set prescription for high-quality cognitiveinterventions, effective [ECEC] programs share the following characteristics:they target multiple factors (education, health, and parenting); they start earlyand are ongoing (although they need not be full-day); and parents and localcommunities are involved and respected. (Tayler, 2013, p. 26)Policy Direction: Develop northern Australia-specific ECEC centres as ‘EarlyYears Hubs’ that offer services that go beyond the typical long day care centreand/or kindergarten setting. In addition to offering high quality care andeducation services delivered by highly qualified and well-rewarded educatorsfrom local communities, the Early Years Hubs would be (mobile) spaces wherefamilies can come to meet one another, play, learn, seek advice, borrowresources, learn how to prepare their youngsters for school, and create acommunity that values high quality ECEC as every Australian child’s entitlement,and not just for parents who wish to re-join the workforce. The Early Years Hubswould have access to extra funding, resources, personnel and training to supportthe people of northern Australia in caring for and educating the vulnerable,widely dispersed, and Indigenous students that are not yet experiencing thesuccessful learning outcomes that their counterparts in other jurisdictions are intheir early schooling.

Primary & Secondary Education in Northern AustraliaThe challenges associated with expanding primary and secondary schooleducational provision to parts of Australia north of the tropic of Capricorn, areless a conundrum and more about capitalizing on existing Commonwealth, Stateand Territory government policies, along with business, private and communityinvestments and initiatives. It is about taking advantage of the tropics geographiclocation with the Asia Pacific region and building a cross-cultural globaleducational hub with world-class facilities for education, research and scientificinquiry.This will involve the global marketization of Australia’s national curriculum(Australian Government, 2014; Australian Education System, 2013), inconjunction with opportunities for the deployment of educators across the AsiaPacific region to rural, remote and metropolitan locations in the region. Thisdeployment encompasses teacher recruitment and retention schemes andinventive and incentive relocation packages. Varied sustainability structurescould incorporate eligibility for promotion aligned with service in metropolitan,rural and remote locations across Northern Australia.Promoting northern Australia as a cross-cultural global educational hub, meansattention to the findings reported in The National Assessment Program Literacyand Numeracy (NAPLAN) Achievement in Reading, Persuasive Writing, LanguageConventions and Numeracy: National Report for 2013 (ACARA, 2013). TheNAPLAN data for example, report the following with regard the literacyperformance of year 3, year 7, and year 9 students in the Northern Territory:A joint submission to the Northern Australia Taskforce Page 84

NAPLAN Year 3 commentary “For the Northern Territory, more than 50% ofIndigenous students achieved at or above the national minimum standard inreading and more than 50% achieved at or above the national minimumstandard in numeracy” (ACARA, 2013., p. 61).NAPLAN Year 7 commentary: “The percentage of Indigenous students whoachieved at or above the national minimum standard ranges from a minimum of61% in persuasive writing to a maximum of 78% in numeracy … The percentageof Indigenous students who achieved at or above the national minimum standardranges from a minimum of 61% in persuasive writing to a maximum of 78% innumeracy” (ACARA, 2013, p. 191).NAPLAN Year 9 commentary: “Mean scores for students from a languagebackground other than English are lower in all five achievement domainscompared with the mean scores for students from an English languagebackground” (ACARA, p. 255).For higher education providers, courses customized for the unique needs of theNorthern Australia region would need to be developed. Such programs wouldhave a strategic focus on Northern Australia with core subjects inclusive ofliteracy education, numeracy and mathematics education, science andsustainability, culturally responsive pedagogy, inclusive and transnationaleducation.An Australian primary and secondary curriculum responsive to cross culturalissues, needs to be accessible to all, and structured in a way that guarantees bothequitable and better educational outcomes for all (Roberts, 2012). This includesdifferentiated and meaningful alternative education targeting youth disengagedfrom mainstream schooling and/or their communities. As reported by theAustralian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (2008): “Young people whofeel engaged and who are provided with opportunities to participate, experiencea better quality of life and contribute to creating and building bettercommunities” (p. 4).A key component of this deliverable will be high quality career and life skillsprofessional development provided to educators on a consistent basis acrossregional, remote and metropolitan environments (Carter & Fewster, 2013).Currently, funding is provided at the national level for schools to conductprofessional learning programs for staff. Equitable distribution of funding andprofessional development opportunities will require rigorous monitoring andaccountability thus ensuring school communities in rural, remote andmetropolitan areas of the tropics are accommodated and that the professionaldevelopment provided remains contextualized, relevant and current.Policy directions include resourcing and sustaining a cross cultural globaleducational hub with world class facilities for education, research and scientificinquiry; quality national and international training, recruitment and retention ofquality educators to work across rural, remote and metropolitan areas ofnorthern Australia; equitable access to high quality schooling and educational


opportunities for all students and teacher educators; youth programs, targetingalienated and disengaged individuals within the education and community;sustainable investment in innovative ICTs including ICT infrastructure (e.g.,access to high capacity broadband); ongoing internationalization of the nationalcurriculum; global marketization of the national curriculum with support for thedeployment of educators across the Asia Pacific region and higher educationtraining grounding students in working with culturally rich and diverse studentsliving in the tropics. Indigenous Education in Northern AustraliaHigh quality Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education is recognised as akey determinant in improving the quality of life for Indigenous Australians (MaRae, Anderson & Aitkinson, 2012. p.10). Young Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander people make up a significant proportion of the Northern Australianschool population and many schools in rural and remote Northern Australia areidentified specifically as Indigenous schools. Thus the quality of educationprovided to Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples is a significant factor in thedevelopment of Northern Australia with a stronger economy and a better qualityof life for its citizens. While there are examples of excellent schools in NorthernAustralia, the “gap” between the educational achievement of Indigenous studentsand other Australian students nationally is amplified in this region.The Northern Territory Department of Education commissioned Professor GeoffMasters from the Australian Council of Education Research (ACER) to review andevaluate the current school education initiatives with specific focus on literacyand numeracy achievement (Masters, 2011). In his report, Masters highlightsjust some of the challenges for the Northern Territory regarding their NAPLANresults:Any general interpretation of literacy and numeracy performances in theNorthern Territory obviously must take account of the uniquecharacteristics of this system, with nearly half of all students living inremote or very remote locations, an unusually high proportion ofstudents living in low socio-economic areas, and a high proportion ofstudents who speak English as a second or other language. More thanforty per cent of the student population is Indigenous. (Masters, 2011, p.36)Acknowledging the NAPLAN achievement gap between Northern Territorystudents and their interstate counterparts, Masters observed that the gap is:greatest in Year 3 and generally reduces the longer children are in school.Extrapolating downwards, it is likely that the gap is greatest oncommencing school. Many children in the Northern Territory begin schoolwith low levels of school readiness, including low levels of oral Englishlanguage competence and limited reading and numeracy skills. (2011, p.39)


This comment by Masters corresponds with the 2009 and 2012 AEDI data thatconfirms that the percentage of children in the Northern Territory considered tobe vulnerable and at risk is substantially greater than for the country as a whole(Australian Government, 2013). Evidently, northern Australia not only sharesthe ECEC challenges that the rest of the nation faces, northern Australia also hasit’s own set of distinctive issues that must be overcome as well.Another fundamental challenge for schools, particularly but not exclusively thosein remote and very remote places in the region, is the provision of qualityteachers.Effective teaching in Indigenous education is dependent on the qualityand commitment of teaching staff to the instruction of Indigenousstudents. ... The research evidence shows that effective teachers are thosewho remain in schools for long periods of time and who have high levelsof focus and energy. (Griffiths, 2011, p.75)For a variety of reasons, teacher turnover in small schools is high and oftenteachers are relatively inexperienced. Education departments have initiated arange of incentives to attract high quality teachers to hard to staff schools butthese have had limited success. An alternative approach has been to capitialiseon the expertise and commitment of local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanderpara-professionals within schools by providing specific pathways into universitybased-teacher education and teacher registration. Award winning programssuch as RATEP: Community-based Indigenous Teacher Education run inpartnership by Queensland Department of Education Training and Employment,Tropical North Queensland TAFE and James Cook University exemplify thisapproach (Office of Learning and Teaching, 2013).Adequate provision of appropriate on-site professional development to meet thediverse needs of their teachers is also a challenge for schools who faceconsiderable additional costs in funding such programs which are often city-centric in their location and content. Additionally, professional developmentofferings need to focus on the significant issue of school-communityrelationships to support teachers and schools as they work in partnership withcommunities to meet the educational needs and aspirations of Indigenousfamilies and communities.A significant challenge in Northern Australia is the provision of adequatesecondary education for students from small and remote Indigenouscommunities. According to Karmel, et al, (2014) “employment and education andtraining participation outcomes for Indigenous Australians are poorer thefurther away they live from urban areas.” Further “lack of access in remote areasto labour markets in both the public and private sectors, and lack of access tocentres of secondary and post-secondary education, means that opportunities tostudy and/or work are less plentiful.” While there are opportunities for someIndigenous students to attend elite boarding schools in large urban areas, thischoice is not available to all or suitable for all. There is a desperate need forappropriate and varied boarding facilities linked to quality schools for secondary


students within Northern Australia to ensure secondary education, includinguniversity, TAFE and employment pathways, is genuinely available at the samelevel as for other Australians. This is particularly relevant in maintaining culturaland social capital within the region.Other challenges in Indigenous education of particular relevance to NorthernAustralia reflect the social-economic status of many Indigenous people. Theinteraction between factors experienced by many Indigenous families such ashigh unemployment, lack of adequate housing, poverty, poor health status witheducation is well recognised and especially in smaller centres, the school as a fullservice hub to provide “wrap-around services” seems to provide the mosteffective means of addressing the multiple issues that impact on theopportunities for Indigenous students to maximise their education potential.While issues such as school attendance and specific programs such as directinstruction have received considerable political and media attention, the coreissue for improving Indigenous Education in Northern Australia remains theprovision of quality teachers who understand their learners and theircommunities and who have the professional knowledge, skills and commitmentto make a difference to educational outcomes for Indigenous learners acrossNorthern Australia.The coalition’s Green Paper on Northern Australia (2013) acknowledges theimportance of quality education to attract people to Northern Australia. Parity ofeducational outcomes for Indigenous Australians would provide a clear indicatorof the quality of education offered for all in Northern Australia. Excellenteducation and quality teachers for Indigenous students would make a significant,even essential, contribution to the economic development and general well beingof all Northern Australians.ConclusionThe growth of northern Australia as proposed in the Coalition’s Green Paper willneed to take into consideration the educational aspects of good living. Not justeducation for industry purposes. Good schools will attract people who will stayand contribute to the economy. If this is not taken into consideration, thedevelopment will be dependent on fly-in-fly-out workers.


ReferencesAustralian education system. (2013). Australia education system-global-study inAustralia. Retrieved fromhttp://www.studyinaustralia.gov.au/global/australian-education/education-system.Australian Government, Department of Education (2013). Broadband enablededucation and skills services programme-Projects. Retrieved fromhttp://www.education.gov.au/broadband-enabled-education-and-skills-services-programme-projects.Australian Government (2014) School education. Retrieved fromhttp://australia.gov.au/topics/education-and-training/school-educationAsia Education Foundation (n.d.). Retrieved fromhttp://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/.Babacan, H., Dale, A., Andrews, P., Beazley, L., Horstman, M., Campbell, A., Morris,S., Webb, B., Rowlands, M., Bowen, L., Callin, R., George, M., and Miley, D.(2012). Science engagement and tropical Australia: building a prosperousand sustainable future for the north. Report. Department of Industry,Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education, Kingston, ACT.Business Council of Australia (2014). Submission to the Joint Select Committeeon Northern Australia, 2014. Accessed on 6 May, 2014.http://www.bca.com.au/publications/submission-to-the-joint-select-committee-on-northern-australiaCarter, M. A., & Fewster, C. (2013). Diversifying early years professional learning- one size no longer fits all. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 38 (1),73-80.Department of Education and Training. (2011). A flying start for Queenslandchildren: Queensland Government Education white paper. Brisbane, QLD:Queensland Government.Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. (2011). Reviewof funding for schools: Final report. Canberra, ACT: Australian Government.Elliott, E., Latimer, J., Fitzpatrick, J., Oscar, J., and Carter, M. (2012). There’s hopein the Valley. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. 48, 3, 190-192.Griffiths, A. (2011). The components of best-practice Indigenous education: Acomparative review. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 40,69–80.Karmel, T., Misko, J., Blomberg, D., Bednarz, A., and Atkinson, G. (2014).Improving labour market outcomes through education and training: Issuespaper no. 9 produced for the Closing the Gap Clearinghouse. Available:http://www.aihw.gov.au/uploadedFiles/ClosingTheGap/Content/Our_publications/2014/ctgc-ip9.pdfKim, T. (2009a). Shifting patterns of transnational mobility: a comparative andhistorical approach. Comparative education, 45(3), 387-404.Ma Rhea, Z., Anderson, P., and Atkinson, B. (2012). Teaching in Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander Education: National Professional Standards forTeachers Standards Focus Areas 1.4 and 2.4 Available:http://www.aitsl.edu.au/initial-teacher-education/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-education


Ministry of Education, Singapore (2013). Primary Education Ministry ofEducation. Retrieved from http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/primary/.OECD. (2006). Starting strong II: Early childhood education and care. Paris: OECDPublishing house.OECD. (2010). PISA 2009 results: Equity in learning opportunities and outcomes(Volume II). Paris: OECD & PISA Publishing house.OECD. (2012). Starting strong III – A quality toolbox for ECE and care. Paris: OECDPublishing house.OECD. (2013). Education Indicators in focus: 2013/02 (February). Paris: OECDPublishing house.Office of Learning and Teaching (2013). 2012 Awards for Teaching Excellence andAwards for Programs that Enhance Learning. Availablehttp://www.olt.gov.au/system/files/2012_Awards_recipients.pdf).Riddle, S. (2014). Closing the gap on Indigenous literacy requires more thanincreased attendance. The Conversation. Accessed 6 May, 2014 athttp://theconversation.com/closing-the-gap-on-indigenous-literacy-requires-more-than-increased-attendance-23142Roberts, K. (2012). Education at a Glance Australia 2012: OECD Indicatorshttp://www.oecd.org/australia/EAG2012%20-%20Country%20note%20-%20Australia.pdf.Submission from the Northern Territory Government to the Federal GovernmentAgricultural Competitiveness Issues Paper, April, 2014.Tayler, C. (2008). Challenges for early learning. In S. Marginson & R. James. (Eds).Education, science and public policy: Ideas for an education revolution.Carlton, VIC: Melbourne University Press.The Coalition’s 2030 Vision for Developing Northern Australia. 2013, Barton,ACT. Accessed 6 May, 2014 at http://lpaweb-static.s3.amazonaws.com/Policies/NorthernAustralia.pdf


Re-imagining post-secondary education as a driver of social andeconomic development in Northern AustraliaProfessor Drew Dawson, Director, Appleton Institute, Central Queensland University,Professor Denise Wood, Central Queensland University, Professor Marie Brennan,Victoria University, Professor Helen Huntley, Central Queensland University.

Lead institution CQUni

Disciplinary alignment: Education and economic development

Corresponding AuthorProfessor Drew Dawson, [email protected]+61438329766PO Box 42 Goodwood, S.A. 5034


Abstract

In recent years, the economic development of Northern Australia has returned to the

national political agenda. A recent parliamentary enquiry, along with a dedicated

office of Northern Australia under the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet

(PM&C), suggests the current government considers this a priority issue. However,

the development of Northern Australia is predicated on the development of significant

economic activity beyond mining and the FIFO/DIDO communities that regularly

commute north to support this activity then fly south to spend and invest their wealth

in southern coastal cities. A vibrant Northern Australia requires an investment in

Northern communities and the physical and social infrastructure necessary to attract

and support economic activity especially in agriculture, tourism and the SME sectors

required to support these industries.

In this submission we look at

The centrality of education in underpinning strong economic development in

the North, especially in the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector;

The challenges associated with providing traditional models of education

infrastructure into Northern Australia

The opportunities provided by new digital technologies to ensure we can

develop and deliver high quality life-long learning for Northern Australians

The benefits of developing partnerships between education providers and

place-based organisations to reduce the cost and improve the accessibility of

high quality education infrastructure especially in remote areas of Northern

Australia.

Recent examples of place-based approaches to providing high quality

educational infrastructure into Northern Australia.

The proposal concludes with a series of recommendations focusing on the need for

investment into the physical infrastructure of the North and a radical revision of

traditional approaches to post-secondary distance education based on a distributed

partnership model. The proposed community-based approach provides access to

facilities and supports for the members of their communities undertaking post-

secondary education within the regions.


Background and Scope

The recent mining and the rapidly emerging ‘dining’ booms have refocused attention

on the economic potential of Australia’s North. However, to date, many of the

economic benefits appear to have been exported to the capital cities ringing our

southern coast. As the Centre for Policy Development response to the draft

Queensland plan notes, the mining boom has failed to deliver on hopes for diversified

industrial economies to develop in Queensland’s remote regions (Eadie & Hayman,

2014, p. 80 and there has been relatively little investment in developing local

communities and new economic activities in the North. Nothing is more emblematic

of this geographic and economic divide than the current ‘army’ of fly-in-fly-out

(FIFO) workers who travel north every week then return to our major cities to spend

and invest their Northern wealth in the South (Eadie & Hayman, 2014; Resourcing

the Future: National Resources Sector Employment Taskforce Discussion Paper,

2010; Zandvliet, Bertolini and Djist, 2008).

For over a century politicians have dreamed of developing, rather than exploiting and

exporting, the economic potential of Northern Australia. For example, in 1999 the

Federal Government declared that 2002 would be Australia's Year of the Outback

with a commitment of $2 million over three years to raise awareness of regional

Australia and its importance in the development of our culture and economic wealth

(Regional Australia: Making a Difference, 2000). In 2008-2009, the Australian

Government 's $42 billion nation building and jobs plan contributed to critical

investments in rural, regional as well as urban infrastructure, and in the 2010-2011

budget further investment was committed to ensure that rural and regional areas of

Australia could benefit from the economic recovery following the global financial

crisis (Stronger Rural and Regional Communities, 2010). With last year’s

announcement of a parliamentary enquiry into Northern Australia, our eyes have

again turned northward and a new national dialogue about the potential benefits of

developing the North has begun.

Although the drivers for this renewed discussion may have changed, (e.g. climate

change, the rise of Asia and the need for greater regionalisation) the untapped


development potential of the North is, yet again, self-evident. There seems to be a

renewed appetite for localised economic development and the diversification of

economic activity of Northern Australia (Eadie & Hayman, 2014): for reversing rural

decline by de-centralising growth away from the capital cities and re-investing in the

economic development of regional communities in Northern Australia.

However, developing the North will require a significant national investment in

physical and social infrastructure in order to attract and retain the population

necessary to develop economic activity in areas beyond the resources, primary

production and tourism sectors. Enterprise development (especially in the small and

medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector) is increasingly dependent on a well-educated

resident workforce in order to create economic opportunity. Therefore, post-

secondary education will be a critical element of this investment as noted in both the

Regional Universities Network report (2013) focusing on strategies for engaging with

regions to build a stronger nation and the Australian Workforce and the Productivity

Agency's discussion paper on Australia’s Skills and Workforce Development Needs

(2012).

Post-secondary education will be especially critical for Aboriginal communities. It

has been estimated that by 2050, close to half the population in Northern Australia

will be Aboriginal and the majority of this group will be under 40 years of age.

Moreover, the Australian Bureau of Statistics projections for growth among the

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians suggests the increasing population

of Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander to be the fastest growing of the

states and territories, with an average growth rate of between 2.6% and 2.7% per year

(ABS, 2009). There is clearly an urgent need to improve remote Aboriginal and

Torres Island student access to and participation in post-compulsory education

(McLoughlin, 2000; Price & Hughes, 2009). However, despite the progress that has

been made in recent years (see for example Asmar, Page, & Radloff, 2011; Ottmann

& White, 2010; Price & Hughes, 2009), their continuing underrepresentation in

higher education and lower rates of success, retention and completion (DEEWR, 2009

cited in Price & Hughes, 2009; James & Devlin, 2006) remain areas of major concern.

As James and Devlin also note, improving the post-secondary education outcomes for

Aboriginal and Torres Island students has a direct impact on the social, cultural and


economic development of their communities (2006, p. 2). Aboriginal Australians will

constitute a significant proportion of the population and a significant potential local

workforce. Yet as the Australian Workforce Productivity discussion paper

(Australia’s Skills and Workforce Development Needs, 2012) identifies, labour force

participation among Indigenous people in remote areas remains low. To ensure that

businesses in Northern Australia have access to the well-educated local workforce

necessary to underpin regional economic development, we will need to ensure that

educational opportunity is appropriate and available to the entire community.

The challenge in Northern Australia is that education, especially in the post-secondary

sector, is typically limited to a small number of local providers often based in the

larger regional cities (Alloway & Dalley-Trim, 2009). As a consequence, current

models of education delivery inadvertently hollow out regional and remote Australia

by ‘pulling’ (or attracting) students to larger population centres or the capital cities

(Bartholomaeus, 2009); in effect depriving their communities of their best and

brightest. Irrespective of cultural background, relocation to larger or capital cities has

often been the unintended cost of pursuing educational advancement and the cost has

been borne by the communities (Grunewald & Smith, 2014) that have often

surrendered their future economic and political leaders and the subsequent wealth

they generate in the South. The challenge will be to retain and develop the local

population in order to provide the skills and expertise necessary to underpin

sustainable economic development.

For the vast majority of the people who choose to live in Northern Australia, local

provision of high quality post-secondary education has been a dream. Most are

required to use distance learning or travel to major coastal communities or to the

southern capitals to access high quality secondary and post-secondary education. The

reasons for this are quite straightforward. Historically, Australian universities and

TAFEs have been large institutions that require significant capital investment and

have traditionally been located in large cities in order to be financially viable. The

consequence of this is that for relatively well-off families with a strong commitment

to educational advancement, children often had to leave their regional or remote

community to gain an education (even at a regional university). Not surprisingly,

many of those who leave their communities never return. Similarly, less well-off


parents are sometimes reluctant to encourage their children to aspire to a post-

secondary education, as it is (a) prohibitively expensive or (b) will likely encourage

their children to leave their family and community for the ‘big smoke’ (Alloway &

Dalley-Trim, 2009). While remaining in their communities, these children (and their

families and communities) often fail to realise their educational potential and the local

economic benefits that would subsequently flow

The problem is not restricted to those who grow up and live in the North of Australia.

Attracting people from the South to move to Northern Australia is often difficult

because families are concerned about the lack of high quality educational

opportunities for themselves and their children in Northern Australia. Nowhere has

the tyranny of distance been felt more acutely than by the families looking at the

likely educational impact on their children when contemplating a move northward.

Historically, the structural issues associated with delivering high quality education

into regional Australia have long been considered a brake on regional economic

development. However, recent developments in communications technology (and the

delivery of of broadband Internet services to regional and remote communities in

particular), have considerable potential to redress the educational inequalities for

those living in, or considering moving to Northern Australia. The Australian

Government’s widening participation agenda (Gillard, 2009) was implemented in

response to several reports highlighting the continuing inequalities in access to higher

education and learning outcomes (Bradley, Noonan, Nugent & Scales, 2008; Elliott,

2010; James et al., 2008). This reconsideration is taking place through evaluation of

current and future practices informed by the experience of those who are from under-

represented and/or disadvantaged groups within the education sector (Willems, 2010).

As Australian universities position themselves to respond to the government’s equity

targets there is growing recognition of the need for strategies to overcome a range of

barriers to further study such as geographic isolation for students living in remote

regions, high mobility, particularly among rural Indigenous communities, economic

barriers, family issues and disability related factors (Wood & Willems, 2012).

Flexible learning options using digital technologies play a key role in expanding the

options available for such students, and have "…the potential to include and engage


students with multiple and complex needs that typically prevent access to traditional

university programs" (Elliott, 2010).

The Australian Government’s Digital Economy Goal released in 2011 was a response

to the recognition that Australia’s long-term economic and social prosperity relies on

a workforce with high-quality skills and access to high speed internet access. The

Government's Digital Economy Goal therefore focuses on the importance of

providing harness high speed broadband infrastructure to significantly extend the

reach, availability and quality of education services, to help meet these regional needs

( NBN Empowering Australia: Education, 2011). The Digital Economy Goal

envisaged that by 2020 the NBN would enable more intensive and immersive online

interactions, resulting in higher-quality learning outcomes for students in Australian

schools, TAFEs, universities and higher education institutions, which would be of

benefit to learners who cannot access courses via traditional means. However, even

though the Australian Government's planned development of the NBN aimed to

ensure that all Australians have access to fast broadband, the current Government's

strategic review into the NBN rollout released in December 2013, reports that

inadequate access to infrastructure across the country is a continuing concern. As the

report identifies, approximately 1.4 million premises (13 per cent) located in regional

or remote and small pockets of poor service in metropolitan and outer metropolitan

areas of Australia areas where less than 40 per cent of premises can access a fixed

broadband service. The recommendations arising from the strategic review focus on

prioritising the rollout of broadband to areas with poorer current broadband service

based on considerations of the areas of greatest need where this is logistically and

commercially feasible (Broadband Availability and Quality: Summary Report, 2013).

Australia's use of these technologies and delivery models of post-secondary education

in remote areas has been gradual, reflecting an incremental modification of historical

practice and slow growth in infrastructure. Traditional universities typically provide

many of their courses through 'blended modes' enabling students to access traditional

course materials via the Internet to support on campus delivery. Many universities are

moving to fully online offerings to reach a wider student population. Although such

flexibility offers greater reach to more diverse populations, much of the value of

tertiary education is derived from the non-technical, social aspects of learning; the


networks created through peers and informal access to high quality teaching staff as

mentors. This is particularly important for 'first in family' students located in regional

locations, especially at post-secondary levels, who frequently lack the experience of

having their ideas and expectations of the world challenged by peers and teachers.

Strategies for enhancing student engagement, creating a greater sense of community

and increasing student persistence in online courses are well documented (Boling et

al, 2012; Palloff & Pratt, 2013; Rovai, 2003; Rovai & Whiting, 2005; Salmon, 2013).

However, despite the possibilities afforded by online technologies, evidence suggests

that the continuing high levels of attrition from fully online courses (Hart, 2012;

Patterson, & McFadden, 2009) are at least in part related to feelings of isolation

(Nielsen, 2013) and disconnectedness (Rovai, 2003).

If we are to develop the North, access to high quality educational experiences over the

life-span will be critical in driving population growth and economic development.

But it will require us to rethink our traditional approaches to providing education in

the North. In the current economic climate, the capital investment necessary to create

traditional campuses to service small population centres in Northern Australia is

unlikely. Even if these resources were available, the vast majority of people would

still need to move away from their local communities to attend post-secondary

education, adding to the expense. Research shows that the combined factors of

financial stresses and travel-related factors contribute to lower participation rates

(Koshy, 2014) and deferrals; with a third of high school students who defer their

studies never taking up their offer of a university place (Polesel & Klatt, 2014).

Similarly, Wilks and Wilson (2012) report the findings of several studies showing the

relationship between lower participation rates in remote, rural and regional settings,

and social exclusion and restricted access to education. Clearly, given the low

population densities of Northern Australia and continuing evidence of educational

disadvantage, our current delivery models and approaches to addressing the post-

secondary educational experience and how it is created, resourced and staffed will

need to change if we are to meet the development needs of the North over the next 50

years. How education providers and students will use emerging technologies to

provide a high quality educational experience will also need to change. Although the

provision of educational resources via the Internet will be critical, we will need to

develop the underpinning IT infrastructure in the North. Moreover, we will need to


use that technology in creative and innovative ways to ensure we can provide the

critical social dimensions of learning to people studying in Northern Australia.

Key infrastructure requirements

For the first time since the widespread introduction of the book in the 15 and 16th

centuries, we have a very disruptive new educational technology that potentially

enables us to deliver the best educational content in the world to any one, anywhere,

at any time. More importantly, regional and rural Australia has clearly demonstrated

a very significant demand for high bandwidth Internet access. The recent Broadband

in the Bush forum in Alice Springs (Broadband for the Bush Forum III, 2014)

reported that demand for high bandwidth services had been underestimated

significantly and that meeting the demand for bandwidth and content is one of the

biggest challenges facing rural and remote Australia.

The development and delivery of online content is now one of the fastest growing

sectors of the knowledge economy and considered part of the critical infrastructure

required to underpin economic development. However, as William Gibson famously

noted, “The future is already here—it’s just not very evenly distributed" (Gibson,

1999). Paradoxically, the communities most likely to benefit from the capacity of the

Internet to deliver world-class educational content are often the ones with the least

access. To a certain extent, it is self-evident that the provision of a world-class post-

secondary education system will be predicated on the provision of a reliable, high

bandwidth Internet access to as many people in the North of Australia as possible.

This will involve both technical and educational support.

Technical requirements

At a technical level, investing in the hardware infrastructure necessary to support high

bandwidth access will be critical for providing access via synchronous video links

and/or high definition downloads of asynchronous educational materials. In addition,

it will require a significant investment in the development of relevant educational

content for those regional and remote students looking to gain a first-class education.

Other submissions to the Parliamentary Enquiry are sure to address the provision of


bandwidth, power and necessary associated infrastructure as part of their discussions

on this topic. Therefore, we will omit any technical discussion other than to note that

it is imperative that all communities looking to generate economic development and

requiring well-educated staff will require state-of-the-art internet access as soon as is

reasonably practical and that it will need to be maintained at ‘state-of-the-art levels to

ensure equitable access and utilisation for those living, studying and working in

Northern Australia.

Developmental requirements

In contrast to traditional classroom-based delivery modes, high quality Internet-based

educational materials require a much greater investment due to greater up-front

production costs. Although marginal distribution costs for Internet-based courseware

are significantly cheaper than classroom-based delivery models, it is unlikely that

small post-secondary education providers (especially in regional or remote Australia)

will be able to develop high quality content cost-effectively given the small class-

sizes. Although it will be possible to access inexpensive global content delivered by

multi-national corporations working in a global market place, this will be limited to

content with a global appeal.

It is important to note that there will be some content that will always remain

parochial (e.g. some aspects of Australian History or Social Studies/Culture) and will,

therefore, always require a degree of developmental subsidy. Relevant elements of

the national curricula may need to be subsidised in the same way film and television

are subsidised in small countries such as Australia, Canada, France or Germany. To

this end, it will be important to provide centralised resources to underpin the

development of educational content that has high national strategic value, but lacks

the global appeal to fund its development.

Alternative community (place) based models


A secular trend toward globalisation of content has been driving educational

innovation for the last 10-15 years in Australia and perhaps longer internationally.

There is little doubt that our traditional notions of what constitutes a post-secondary

educational institution, who should attend them and how they will interact with the

institution are also changing (Grunewald & Smith, 2014). Not least is the idea that as

we democratise education it is increasingly important that we reverse the direction of

travel since this imposes a significant financial burden on the student and their family.

That is, the education provider should go to the student, not vice-versa. There are

compelling reasons for this alternative view of education as situated and located

within students' communities. As Grunewald and Smith (2014) note, place-based

education or community-based education aims to reconnect education, culture, and

human development in ways that contribute to the well-being of the community,

while also facilitating the development of the skills required to regenerate and sustain

communities. The community-based model has its foundations in cultural-historical

activity theory (Engeström, 2001; Leont'ev, 1978; Vygotsky, 1978), a social

constructivist approach which recognises that learning is not solely an individual

activity, but a collectively shared process with significant cultural and historical

dimensions. The approach draws on Vygotsky's (1978) concept of the zone of

proximal development (ZPD). ZPD is defined as the distance between what an

individual can achieve on their own and what they can accomplish when guided by

more capable peers or adults through social interactions that take place in a historical

context; one that is also imbued with cultural artefacts (Barab, Evans, & Baek, 2004,

p. 201).

Regardless of location, the delivery modes that people are currently choosing

increasingly involve a significant online component. Indeed, the market imperative

for Internet-based delivery is compelling. It is more cost-effective to create high

quality content and deliver it to classes of hundreds, or even hundreds of thousands

than to deliver face-to-face in a traditional classroom setting. For the regional

education consumer, it holds the promise of ‘access’ to higher quality teachers, peers

and content than is typically available locally. Internet-based delivery can also

provide greater amenity through asynchronous communication. This can enable

students to learn when and where they choose, at the rate that best suits them and can

potentially reduce the work-study conflict associated with traditional delivery modes.


There is growing recognition of the benefits of blended learning models, variously

defined according to modes of web-based technology, different pedagogical

approaches or the combination of online, face-face and work based learning (see

Partidge, Ponting & McCay, 2011 for more detailed discussion of the differing

definitions and understandings of the term). Courses based on this blended model

incorporate the "thoughtful fusion of face-to-face and online learning experiences" in

ways that are "optimally integrated such that the strengths of each are blended into a

unique learning experience congruent with the context and intended educational

purpose" (Garrison and Vaughan, 2008, p. 5). Evidence suggests that such courses

enjoy higher levels of student interaction and satisfaction, better rates of retention and

achievement, and more effective interaction than fully online courses (Nielsen, 2013).

The exponential rise of interest in the development of online courseware, and

MOOC’s (Massive Online Open-source Courses) is testament to the perceived

economies of scale, amenity and educational opportunities associated with globalised

online educational content. Sandeen (2013), for example, suggests that MOOCs are

"an extremely positive development" (p. 11) in addressing social and educational

challenges by increasing the numbers of students who achieve post-secondary

education and providing access to high-quality, low-cost education. However, for

these goals to be realised, more research is needed on a number of related issues, not

the least being the high attrition rates reported for this form of open education. Recent

local and international experience with distance education and MOOCs suggest that

these courses are not necessarily better nor a simple substitute for traditional modes of

education delivery due to reduced opportunities for personal contact between the

student and teacher or between peers. This is especially true in xMOOC offerings

such as those offered by consortia (for example EdX, Coursera, and Udacity), which

Bragg (2014) argues follow more traditional publishing models and provide very little

opportunity to engage with others. Although recognising that cMOOCs, which are

based on the principles of connectivism (Siemens, 2005) offer the potential for more

active student engagement (Milligan, Littlejohn & Maegaryam, 2013), such formats

may not be suitable in populations where levels of disengagement are already high,

given the well documented significant levels of attrition from MOOCs (Bragg, 2014).


There is significant research indicating the centrality of social interactions in the

effective construction of knowledge and understanding (Barab, Sasha, Evans,

Michael, & Baek, 2004; Cole, 1998; Jonassen & Rohrer-Murphy, 1999; Vygotsky,

1978). In traditional face-to-face delivery modes, the presence of a teacher and other

students can provide a rich social environment and a sense of belonging and place for

students. The challenge with non-traditional approaches has always been the high

attrition rates. For regional and remote students in Australia, attrition rates in post-

secondary education are as high as 40-50% (2012 Appendix 4 – Attrition, success and

retention, 2012; More to university drop-outs than meets the eye, 2012; New student

retention rating, 2014; University student attrition rates across Australia, 2014,

March 12). This reflects a very poor return on investment for both stakeholder groups,

i.e. individual students who pay through HECS and the taxpayer via the tax system.

At this time, governments and taxpayers are not apparently willing to extend the more

traditional approaches to post-secondary education to a significant proportion of the

post-secondary student cohort outside the current settings. Post-secondary education

is often considered

too expensive

potentially culturally inappropriate for some groups in some circumstances,

and/or

represents an unfair ‘subsidy’ by the taxpayer to those who will typically

benefit financially from that education in the future.

However, the costs of not providing access to postsecondary education are likely to

undermine investment in Northern Australia. In education terms, there has developed

sufficient technical knowledge and course design principles to develop alternative

models. Although increased use of online technologies has been shown to have

significant benefits, especially for regional and remote communities, the challenge of

how to deliver the high quality post-secondary education necessary to underpin strong

economic development in regional and remote communities, while also providing a

sense of local community and support networks, has yet to be resolved. The challenge

is further complicated by the current structure of post-secondary education that is

dominated by ‘big box’ institutions in larger population centres with their


concomitant high infrastructure costs. Even if we were to invest further in such

institutions, which has been a constant, if somewhat predictable, refrain from existing

regional and remote education providers, we will still remove people from their

communities and struggle to convince people to remain in the North or to move North

with their families. Thus, we need a fundamentally new model of post-secondary

education that:

provides a high quality educational experience tailored to the needs of

Northern Australian communities;

enables us to provide the skills and experience necessary to underpin strong

economic development;

reduces the wastage and high attrition rates associated with current

educational delivery modes in regional and remote Australia (e.g. in distance

education mode); and

makes use of the significant advances in online and educational technologies

through a blended mode of delivery.

One way of doing this is to reimagine post-secondary education in a way that

optimises the four goals listed above. As indicated previously, one way of doing this

is to develop delivery modes that increasingly take the institution to the student rather

than vice versa.

Recent deregulation provides a perfect opportunity to further decentralise the post-

secondary education landscape and deliver high quality regional and remote

education. High bandwidth Internet technologies clearly allow students to access the

best national and global content but lack the social context within which much

learning occurs. If this technology were to be paired with local provider services that

delivered the best of traditional social support mechanisms as well, it would be

possible to provide high quality education more broadly across the North of Australia.

Post-secondary education could be re-imagined, not as an expansion of single site,

'big box' providers, but rather, as the creation of a distributed network of small

‘franchised’ locations in regional centres all across Northern Australia. Post-


secondary education providers could partner with pre-existing organisations in

regional and remote communities, e.g. companies, local government agencies (e.g.

councils or libraries) and/or secondary education providers to establish small ‘branch

offices’ in hundreds of locations across the North of Australia.

These small branch offices could provide pastoral care, peer support and access to

virtual educational communities using specialised IT or video conferencing facilities.

Such centres could utilise partner staff to provide front-of-house services and pastoral

care referral services etc. Where numbers were sufficient, peer support mechanisms

to underpin the social dimensions of learning could also be provided. The key benefit

to such an approach is the reduction in start-up costs associated with establishing a

post-secondary institutional presence, thus enabling more and smaller communities to

develop a local post-secondary education provider presence in their community. For

example, recent negotiations in Karratha between the Pilabara Development

Corporation and the University of WA failed to establish a campus due to the

perceived cost of developing a traditional ‘sandstone’ campus and the poor return on

investment.

The model proposed here is much less expensive and permits a more flexible

approach and co-investment in the provision of services. In addition, the provision of

high quality IT and video-conferencing facilities can provide additional, leveraged

benefits to communities above and beyond their educational needs (e.g. provision of

cost-shared telemedicine, interaction with state and federal government agencies etc),

Examples of Benefits

The potentials for such a model are unlimited.

For example, companies operating in remote Northern Australia could partner with

post-secondary providers to provide some of the infrastructure necessary to deliver

vocational and tertiary education to staff and/or their families. This would assist

employers to improve job skills, experience and assist in the development of peer

support cohorts for current staff as well as improving their ability to provide the

educational opportunities necessary to recruit and retain staff in remote regions.


Indigenous communities could partner with secondary and post-secondary providers

to enable ‘wrap-around’ transition to post-secondary education for Aboriginal

Australian located in remote Australia. By providing local post-secondary

educational opportunities in remote Aboriginal communities, local students could

participate without the need to leave their communities for larger regional or capital

city locations. Similarly, the technology could provide students in non-remote

settings the opportunities to interact with and contribute to remote Aboriginal

communities and to reduce the educational disadvantage associated with geographic

distance.

Local and State Governments could partner with post-secondary providers to develop

local educational hubs to support skills acquisition and mentoring. These hubs could

also be used to foster local enterprise development. High bandwidth access to post-

secondary providers could provide mentoring support to small business development

in a range of areas including innovation, entrepreneurship, marketing logistics, export,

supply/value chain analysis etc. This type of support may be critical in providing new

and exciting educational and employment opportunities for the ‘trailing spouses’ that

often make it difficult to reside in communities in Northern Australia.

It may also be possible to partner with local health care providers to provide

professional training and development opportunities for medicine, nursing and allied

health alongside other professional development programs. A post-secondary

provider with a micro-campus located within a hospital could provide significant

opportunities for staff to interact with colleagues in major teaching hospitals.

Similarly, hospitals and medical centres with good pre-existing telemedicine facilities

could collaborate through a micro campus to provide significant additional

educational opportunities for the communities within which they are embedded.

Similar examples of the proposed distributed, community-based post-secondary

education models in other geographical contexts already exist. For example, Wilson

and Battiste (2011) describe a model based on the provision of in-community, online

and web-based distance education to remote areas, enabling students to receive an

education without leaving their jobs or their home communities. As they argue, post-


secondary education programs need to be "locally owned, developed, inspired, and

delivered have the greatest potential of meeting the needs of Aboriginal peoples" (p.

24). Although Wilson and Battiste's model is based on Indigenous community-based

education, the principles can be applied to any community-based post-secondary

context in that such a model aims to build local capacity and maximise opportunities

for the transfer of knowledge and skills. The principles of the distributed education

model described by Wilson and Battiste (2011, pp. 23-24), are as follows:

Local measurement and decision-making;

Learning is guided and directed by a vital and active community;

Respect of the whole person who is part of family, community, and Nation is

demonstrated;

Holistic approach is used;

Informal learning is valued over structured and formal learning;

Exposure to culturally sensitive learning environments;

Working with community members;

Access to local education rather than having to leave community and home;

Relevance to work and application;

Flexible and community-based approaches;

Flexibility enabling students to maintain a work schedule while learning;

In the case of Indigenous communities, incorporating cultural knowledges and

employing Aboriginal teachers to deliver culturally sensitive curricula

incorporating bilingual learning experiences;

Family and community support is valued and family members are regarded as

the first teachers and the primary educators for sharing traditions and beliefs;

Teaching and learning activities support social, economic, political and

education advancement;

Activities contribute to free choice of where to work and live.

The distributed community-based education model proposed in this position paper

combines elements of the distributed education and community-based education

models described by Wilson and Battiste (2011), recognising that the success of such

a model is dependent on the availability of suitable technologies to the students in

their communities. The distributed model also needs to be complemented by


appropriate supports within the community as well as outreach programs, which

provide in-situ mentoring and other activities designed to encourage and prepare

young people in remote communities "to participate in post-secondary education

while they are still in the K-12 system" (p. 25). Such a model is informed by cultural-

historical activity theory (Engeström, 2001; Leont'ev, 1978; Vygotsky, 1978), situated

learning and cognitive apprenticeship (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989) and the

principles of authentic learning (Herrington, Reeves and Oliver, 2010);

acknowledging the need to connect students, their place of employment or future

employment, their community and the curriculum.

This kind of community-based education context provides appropriate supports and

opportunities for students to develop their applied skills as members of a community

and current or future employees. The approach recognises the need for a flexible and

adaptable curriculum that is based on the principles of authentic learning, while also

maximising the opportunities for students to utilise appropriate information and

communication technologies in ways that support their learning and provides them

with access to the tools they need to apply in practice as future graduates.

Once we can accept the idea that a post-secondary education is no longer a choice

between relocation or quality, the possibilities are endless. High quality content,

sourced globally, supplemented by high value local social support and

encouragement, delivered from a small campus, tightly integrated with local

infrastructure and the community is a very real possibility.

Current Developments

To date, there have been some limited attempts to develop small post-secondary

educational institutions in Australia. These have not been particularly successful to

date. There have been several private higher education and VET sector providers that

have successfully established small campuses and enrolments in highly specialised

areas. However, the vast majority of these have been established in capital cities and

targeted specifically to fee-paying international students, rather than regional

domestic students. The quality issues associated with these developments have been

well documented and a critique of this is beyond the scope of this paper. However, it


is important to note that size, in and of itself, is not always a proxy for quality and that

the model proposed here could easily be adopted by large, well-established providers

to meet the needs of regional domestic students using a localised regional/remote co-

investment ‘franchise’ model that ensured consistency, quality and accountability.

The only major post-secondary education provider to explore this model so far has

been Central Queensland University (CQU). Over recent years CQU has established

a range of micro-campuses in both regional and urban Australia. This model has been

relatively flexible and has involved co-investment in some sites. What has been

learned from these campuses is that domestic students are attracted to micro-

campuses when they come under the banner of a large, well-established post-

secondary provider. Moreover, it is also clear that the combination of online content

delivery and local support appears very attractive to students and families for whom

travel to larger cities is undesirable. What is also clear is that for students from

relatively disadvantaged backgrounds, the ‘intimacy’ of smaller campuses helps them

adapt more successfully to the anonymity of large post-secondary educational

environment.

If this approach were to be extended more broadly, it would be possible for larger

post-secondary education providers (especially those with strong quality control

systems) to provide high quality educational opportunities into regional and remote

Northern Australia. The co-location and co-investment in the creation of micro-

campuses with pre-existing community infrastructure would minimise the

establishment maximise the level of community engagement through Local and State

Government agencies and employers.

Conclusion

This position paper focusing on post-secondary education as a driver of social and

economic development in Northern Australia identifies several major challenges

facing industry, post-secondary education providers and communities in Northern

Australia. These challenges include:

A lack of residual development in the North;


The reliance on fly-in-fly-out workers as the preferred solution for some

industries instead of investment in building an educated workforce within the

region;

Recognition by the Australian Government of the need for further investment

to ensure that rural and regional areas of Australia can lead the country in

economic recovery and sustainability;

The need for investment in the physical (particularly high speed and

affordable broadband services) and social infrastructure to attract and retain a

skilled local population;

A level of resistance to encouraging young people from the community to

undertake post-secondary education due to the need for them to relocate to

urban centres;

The high levels of attrition of students from these communities who are

studying in distance mode;

Continuing underrepresentation in post-secondary education and lower rates

of success, retention and completion of Aboriginal and Torres Islander

students.

The alternative distributed, community-based model proposed in this position paper

addresses these issues by reversing the flow; the educator instead going to the

community to deliver high quality education through partnering with local

communities, not-for profit and government agencies. The model has been shown to

be successful in other regional contexts (see Wilson & Battiste, 2011, pp. 23-24) for

the following reasons:

Decision-making occurs locally through collaboration and consultation with

the community members;

Learning is guided and directed by the community;

Respect is given to the 'whole person' who is part of family, community, and

Nation;

A more holistic solution, which builds on a social constructivist approach to

situated learning;

Informal learning provided by the community complements formal learning

provided by post-secondary educators;


Students are exposed to culturally sensitive learning environments within

places of historical significance that are imbued with cultural artefacts;

Access is provided to local education avoiding the need for post-secondary

students to leave their communities and homes;

The situated learning model provides a more authentic context in which the

relevance to work and application within the community is embedded within

the curricula;

The approach employing a blended mode of delivery is flexible and

community-based;

Such flexibility enables students to maintain a work schedule while learning

within their communities;

Family and community support is valued;

The teaching and learning activities support social, economic, political and

educational advancement;

The approach invests into building the skills of the community within the

region and thus to economic growth and sustainable futures.

This proposal argues for investment into the physical infrastructure of the North and a

radical revision of traditional approaches to post-secondary distance education. The

proposal also argues for dialogue with local communities, industries and Government

to explore the potential of a distributed partnership model, which provides access to

facilities and supports for the members of their communities undertaking post-

secondary education within the region. Through such dialogue, the common focus on

infrastructure required for development of health, services, industry, government

agencies and local business, the inter-dependence of education with these future

developments can be maximised.


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Supporting Aboriginal Post-secondary Education. Report prepared for the

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W. Lee, B. Dalgarno & H. Farley (Eds), Virtual worlds in tertiary education: An

Australasian perspective. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 28

(Special issue, 3), pp. 459-479.

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Society: Mobile and Residential Populations and the Performance of Places.

European Planning Studies, 16(10), 1459 -1472.


Defence in the three tropical cities: How to sustainably seize the potential?Riccardo Welters, Discipline of Economics, James Cook University.

1. Introduction

About 45% of the population in Tropical Australia, live in its three largest cities: Cairns(resident population: 142,000), Darwin (121,000) and Townsville (175,000). Defence is oneof the major (public sector) industries in these three cities. In 2012 it employed 12,000permanent members (20% of Australia’s permanent Defence personnel) and a further 1,000civilian personnel (4% of Australia’s civilian Defence personnel) across the three tropicalcities.

This discussion paper analyses what we know about the interaction between Defence andthe tropical cities in which it is located. However, there is still a lot that we do not knowabout the interaction, as a result of data availability limitations. The paper recommendsbetter data collection and foreshadows how better data collection can produce moretargeted policy responses to the benefit of both Defence and the tropical cities.

Section 2 of the paper discusses the employment and industry structure of the threetropical cities and how Defence shapes that structure. Section 3 describes the socio-economic impact of Defence on the three cities, while Section 4 provides conclusions andrecommendations.


2 Employment and industry structure of tropical cities

To understand how Defence shapes the employment and industry structures of the tropicalcities, we first briefly describe labour market performance in the tropical cities allowing acomparison between the three cities and benchmark their performance to the Australianaverage. We then progressively demonstrate the influence that Defence has on labourmarket performance in the three tropical cities.

We start the analysis with some key labour market outcomes for the three tropical citiesand the Australian average. Figure 2.1 looks at two interrelated aspects of the labourmarket. The blue bar represents unemployment rates. Here we observe stark differencesbetween the three cities. The Darwin labour market is operating close to full capacity in2011. Whilst an unemployment rate of 3.6% suggests there is still unused labour supplyavailable, in reality most of that supply is frictional unemployment. Also Townsville observesbelow nationwide average unemployment in 2011, but the same cannot be said of Cairns,where unemployment is significantly above the national average and hence clearly out ofsync with the two other tropical cities.

Figure 2.1: Excess labour supply in the tropical cities, 2011

Source: ABS Census 2011

Figure 2.1 also includes the share of fulltime employees in the total pool of employees.Given the tight conditions in Darwin, one may expect that this share is driven bypreferences. That is, the 28% workers who work part-time do so, because they prefer so. Inmore loose labour markets the share of part-timers is higher, indicating underemployment,since there are no a priori reasons why part-time work is more popular in Cairns, Townvilleor indeed nationwide.

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Differences in labour market tightness also translate into earnings differences – see Figure2.2. Average gross weekly earnings are about 140 dollars higher in Darwin than thenationwide average, whilst high unemployment in Cairns depresses weekly earningscontributing to a 70 dollars shortfall. To control for differences in working hours as noted inFigure 2.1, we also present gross hourly earnings and note considerably higher hourly wagesin Darwin and lower hourly wages in Townsville and especially Cairns compared to thenationwide average for 2011.

Figure 2.2: Gross weekly / hourly earnings in the tropical cities, 2011


Labour market tightness is only one contributor to regional wage differences. Qualificationsand industry structure are two more contributors. Figure 2.3 presents highest post schoolqualifications in the three tropical cities in 2011. We note that trade certificates are theforemost qualification in all three tropical cities (around 16% across all three cities), whilethat is a university degree nationwide. Differences between Cairns and Townsville comparedto the Australian average are more pronounced than differences between Darwin andAustralia.

Figure 2.3: Post school qualifications in tropical cities, 2011

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Whilst causation between educational and occupational distribution can be difficult todetermine, correlation between the two distributions is typically strong, as is also the casefor the tropical cities – compare Figures 2.3 and 2.4. We observe lower shares of highoccupational categories (Managers and Professionals) in the tropical cities compared to thenational average, especially in Cairns and Townsville – see Figure 2.4. Instead, the tropicalcities have higher shares of low occupational categories (Labourers, Machinery operators &drivers, and Sales workers) than the nationwide average. Again Darwin’s occupationalstructure looks more like the Australian average. However, the three tropical cities share ahigher share of Community & personal service workers than the Australian average.

Figure 2.4: Occupational structures in tropical cities, 2011

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Whilst education and occupation structures in the three tropical cities indicate that weeklyearnings in Darwin should be comparable to, in Townsville below and in Cairns far below theAustralian average, Figure 2.2 only confirmed this finding for Cairns. Therefore we dissectweekly earnings to occupational levels to reveal occupational categories that support thetropical cities’ wage structures beyond levels expected from the nationwide average.

Figure 2.5 provides this overview. The top row of Figure 2.5 provides the overall weeklygross earnings premium as shown in Figure 2.2. Not surprisingly, occupational groups thatemerged from Figure 2.4 as larger than expected from the nationwide structure, alsocommand significant earnings premiums, possibly as a result of wage competition. The mostprominent occupational category is ‘Community & personal services workers’, whichcommands earnings premiums in 2011 of around 8% in Cairns, 15% in Townsville and 42% inDarwin.

Figure 2.5: Weekly earnings premiums in tropical cities, 2011


Having established that the ‘Community & personal service workers’ occupational categoryis an important pillar under the wage structures in the three tropical cities, we explore theextent to which the public sector is providing employment for this occupational category –see Figure 2.6. We note that nationwide, the public sector is responsible for 67% of all jobsin this occupational category, but that is substantially more in Townsville (75%) and Darwin(78%) and substantially less in Cairns (61%). These city differences are driven by the ‘Publicadministration and safety’ industry.

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Cairns Townsville Darwin


Figure 2.6: Public sector share in ‘Community & pers. serv. workers’ in tropical cities, 2011


So far we have seen that the ‘Community & personal service workers’ occupational categoryis overrepresented in the three tropical cities, compared to the Australian average (Figure2.4). We also know that workers in this occupational category command weekly earningsabove and beyond what can be expected from that occupational category nationwide(Figure 2.5). We also saw that, especially in Darwin and Townsville, the public sector is animportant employer in this occupational category (Figure 2.6).

Figure 2.7 shows the industry share of the public sector in the three tropical cities. Thisfigure reveals that Defence is an important ingredient in the public sector mix in Darwin andTownsville and to a lesser degree in Cairns.

Figure 2.7: Industry shares (employment) of public sector in tropical cities, 2011.

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Consequently, the existence of a substantial Defence sector in Townsville pushes earnings inTownsville beyond levels that may be expected based on educational attainment structuresin the city. Similarly, the presence of a substantial Defence sector in Darwin combined witha strong Public Administration sector also pushes earnings in Darwin beyond levels that maybe expected based on educational attainment structures in the city. In the absence ofsubstantial support from any high earnings sectors, earnings in Cairns are at levels that maybe expected based on educational attainment structures in the city.


3. Defence’s presence and impact on the tropical cities

The previous section highlighted the role that Defence plays in solidifying the labourmarkets in Darwin and Townsville and to a lesser degree Cairns as an employer. Beforeanalysing the Defence demographic in the tropical cities and its socio-economic needs, webriefly highlight its economic impact on the three cities. Figure 3.1 shows gross regionalproduct in the three cities. The Cairns economy is worth nine billion dollars in 2013, Darwinnearly twelve billion and Townsville nearly 13 billion. The direct contribution of Defence tothese economies ranges from 3% in Cairns to 11% in Darwin and Townsville. As a resultDefence is an important industry sector employment wise, but also dollar wise – especiallyin Darwin and Townsville.

Figure 3.1: Economic contribution Defence in tropical cities, 2013

Source: Deloitte Access Economics (2011); JCU calculations

3.1 Defence demographic

As Section 2 highlighted, defence is larger in all three tropical cities compared to theAustralian average but especially so in Darwin and Townsville. Figure 3.2 presents theDefence population size specified to activity. Defence Cairns is nearly exclusively navy.Darwin has a large army contingent next to smaller contingents of navy and air forcepersonnel. Defence Townsville is predominantly army oriented, next to a much smaller airforce contingent.

Figure 3.2: Defence personnel in the tropical cities, 2012

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However, the Defence community is larger than the number of Defence personnel only.Three quarters of Defence personnel either have a spouse and or dependent children. Oncewe include them, we see that over 14,000 people in Townsville have a (household) link toDefence, which is 8% of the Townsville population. In Darwin nearly 12,000 people have a(household) link to Defence, which constitutes 10% of the population. In Cairns thepopulation impact is more modest: just over 2,000 people are linked to Defence, whichequates to nearly 2% of the Cairns population.

Figure 3.3: Size of the Defence community in the tropical cities, 2012

Source: Defence (2013), Australian Strategic Policy Institute (2011); Welters & Delisle (2008)

3.2 Socio-economic needs of Defence in the tropical cities

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The nature of the Defence job (including long-term overseas deployments, hence long-termfamily break-up and frequent postings across the country, hence little attachment to anygiven location) puts additional pressures on Defence households, potentially leading to astronger reliance on the social city infrastructure. It is therefore important that social cityinfrastructure is adequately resourced. In this paper we focus on two elements of social cityinfrastructure: access to general practitioner (GP) services and access primary andsecondary school.

Figure 3.4 shows in blue the share of Defence in the GP dependent population.1 In Cairnsthat percentage is just under 1%; in Darwin and Townsville it is higher at 5.7% and 4.7%respectively. The red bars indicate the number of people that a FTE (full time equivalent) GPservices on average in the city. We observe that for all three cities that number is in excessof the Australian average, especially so in Darwin where each FTE GP services 1,700residents (as opposed to 1,100 nationwide).

Figure 3.4: Defence and GP accessibility, 2011

Source: ABS Census (2011); Primary Health Care Research & Information Service (2012)

Figure 3.5 presents in blue the share of Defence in the population of school age children.Whilst small in Cairns, that share is significant both in Darwin (10.4%) and Townsville (8.5%).We use the FTE student to FTE teacher ratio as an indicator of school accessibility – in red inFigure 3.5.2 We observe that the student to teacher ratio in Cairns and Townsville (14.4) isabove the Australian average (13.9), whilst in Darwin (12.0) it is below the average.

Figure 3.5: Defence and school accessibility, 2013

1 The GP dependent population is net of uniformed Defence members, who have access to Defence healthcare.2 Student to teacher ratios are at the state level, which is the lowest aggregation level for which data areavailable. This figure includes primary and secondary education across all affiliations.

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4. Policy recommendations

The analysis in this discussion paper describes the interaction between Defence and thethree tropical cities Cairns, Darwin and Townsville. We observed that Defence is part of theeconomic backbone of these cities (especially in Darwin and Townsville) solidifying the citywage structure and protecting the economy to the ebbs and flows of the business cycle. Atthe same time we observed that the Defence community creates sizeable demand for socialinfrastructure in the cities, which is not necessarily well resourced in the tropical cities.

The discussion highlights what we know of the interaction between Defence and thetropical cities in which it is located. However, there is still a lot that we do not know aboutthe interaction.

At least two areas of the interaction deserve further attention.

First, the economic interaction of Defence with other industries in a tropical city economyshould be explored more deeply, i.e. the backward and forward linkages between Defenceand other local and non-local industries. Subsequent analysis can demonstrate the potentialof further strengthening the ties between Defence and local industries (replacing non-localsuppliers) and its economic value to tropical cities. If that potential exists, policies targetedat exploiting that potential should be considered.

Second, the reliance of the Defence community on social city infrastructure. Whilst theauthor of this discussion paper is cognisant of the fact that the social infrastructure used bythe Defence community stretches much further than access to GP services and schools, lackof data collected at city levels prevents a more holistic analysis for the tropical cities. Suchan analysis would compare and contrast demand and supply for social infrastructure at acity level and could be used to benchmark social city infrastructure provision in garrisoncities. That type of information could be exploited for targeted policy responses in cities thatfail the benchmark in terms of social infrastructure. Addressing shortfalls in socialinfrastructures safeguards the sustainability of the relationship between Defence and thetropical cities.


5. References

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2011). Census. Canberra, ACT: Author. Retrieved fromhttp://censusdata.abs.gov.au

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2013). Schools (No. 4221.0). Canberra, ACT: Author.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute. (2011). Australian Defence Almanac 2011–2012. Barton,ACT: Author.

Defence (2013). Email correspondence with the Department of Defence regarding Defencepersonnel figures in the tropics.

Deloitte Access Economics. (2011). Long term economic and demographic projections – ADFPosture review. Barton, Australia: Author. Retrieved fromhttp://www.defence.gov.au/oscdf/adf-posture-review/docs/interim/attachd.pdf

Primary Health Care Research & Information Service. (2012). Key division of general practicecharacteristics 2010-2011, 2010-2011 Annual survey of Divisions. Flinders University,Adelaide, Australia: Author. Retrieved from:http://www.phcris.org.au/products/asd/keycharacteristic/KeyDGPstatistics.xls

Welters, R. & Delisle, A. (2008). A holistic analysis of the socio-economic impact of theAustralian Defence Organisation and its interaction with the city of Townsville. Townsville,Australia: James Cook University. Retrieved fromhttp://www.jcu.edu.au/business/public/groups/everyone/documents/event_description/jcuprd_052402.pdf.


What climate change and tropical cyclones mean for Northern Australia

Introduction

This chapter discusses the latest climate projections for key climate variables for Northern Australia,including tropical cyclones and provides a concise summary of key priorities for planning and policy.Climate change projections for the region are synthesised from numerous published sources,including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th (2007) and 5th (2013)Assessment Reports. Box 1 shows the new emission scenarios and their representativeconcentration pathways (RCPs), utilised in the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s5th Assessment Working Group I Report (IPCC 2013). These RCPs will play a significant role indetermining future climates and the likelihood extreme weather events. On the basis of currentglobal emissions of greenhouse gases due to human and natural processes, we are more or lessfollowing the RCP8.5 scenario trajectory and the other pathways should be considered asconservative.Box 1: New emission scenarios: Representative concentration pathways (RCPs) Four RCPs describe plausible trajectories of future greenhouse gas and aerosol concentrations to the year

2100. These are named RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6, and RCP8.5 in accordance with the range of radiative forcing

values (in W/m2). Radiative forcing is a measure of the level of influence these gases have on Earth’senergy balance.

Each RCP is representative of a range of economic, technological, demographic, policy, and institutionalfutures.

The intermediate scenario RCP4.5 could be considered as a trajectory with moderate mitigation, consistentwith the B1 scenario of the SRES scenarios developed in 2001. The highest RCP scenario, RCP8.5, is similarto the A1FI, or highest concentrations case in the SRES scenarios. RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 concentrationpathways are used for projections presented in this chapter.

Source :Van Vuuren et al. (2011) The representative concentration pathways: an overview. Climatic Change 109: 5-31IPCC (2001) Special Report on Emission Scenarios (https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/special-reports/spm/sres-en.pdf)

When using these projections for planning decisions policy makers should consider that differentmodels and RCPs generate a wide range of future climates. Tools and guidance material on the

Stephen M. Turton, Centre for Tropical and Environmental and Sustainability Science, College of Marineand Environmental Sciences, James Cook University.


likelihood of the different projections will be offered through the Climate Futures software toolcurrently being developed by CSIRO.

Temperature

Air and sea surface temperatures and heat waves

The latest IPCC models predict that all regions of Australia will warm significantly by 2090, includingNorthern Australia (IPCC 2013). Lower rates of warming may be expected in coastal areas withhigher rates expected further inland. Heat waves (number of days >35˚C) will become morecommon in a warming world and will also profoundly affect parts of Northern Australia. Incomparison, the number of cool days will decline. Sea surface temperatures across NorthernAustralia will warm in parallel with increases in air temperatures.

Average air temperatures

Since historical records began (1850s), average temperatures in Northern Australia have increased atsimilar rates to the Australian average (~0.9˚C). Minimum temperatures have increased more thanmaximum temperatures during this time (BOM 2013). Year-to-year variability in temperatures isstrongly driven by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon with warmer years generallyassociated with El Niño events (e.g. 1998).

Table 1 summarises projected changes in average temperatures (˚C) for Northern Australia utilisingthe CMIP5 global models for the conservative RCP4.5 emission scenario (see Box 1). Projections areprovided for the summer wet-season (December-February), the winter dry season (June-August. Allthe models project an increase in average air temperatures, with the greatest increases expectedduring the summer wet-season months.

Table 1: CMIP5 global models average temperature projections for Northern Australia for 2035 and 2065.The ranges of values are derived from 42 global models for the RCP4.5 scenario (see Box 1). Values are

relative to the 1986-2005 base-line period.Month Year Temperature

Range (˚C)DJF (wet season) 2035

20650.2 to 1.90.6 to 3.4

JJA (dry-season) 20352065

0.4 to 1.40.9 to 2.3

Annual 20352065

0.3 to 1.60.7 to 2.6

(Source: IPCC 2013)

Number of hot days

Since historical temperature records began in Australia (1850s), the average number of hot days hasincreased while the number of cold days has decreased. A hot day is defined here as one with a


daily maximum temperature exceeding 35˚C. For medium emission scenarios (RCP4.5, Box 1)Northern Australia may expect a quadrupling of the number of hot days above 35°C by late in thecentury (IPCC 2013). For higher emission scenarios (RCP8.5, Box 1) considerably more hot days maybe expected.

Centred on 1995 (1986-2005 baseline), Cairns has experienced an average of four hot days eachyear. Based on the IPCC’s latest projections, Cairns may expect 4-8 hot days each year by 2030,increasing to 5-28 days per year by 2070, depending on the greenhouse gas emission scenarios (IPCC2013). For the conservative RCP4.5 emission pathway (Box 1), Townsville may expect more than 80hot days a year by 2070, while Darwin may expect more than 180 hot days (IPCC 2013). Thesemodest projections show a quadrupling of the number of hot days above 35°C by late in the centuryrelative to the 1986-2005 baseline. For higher emission pathways, the number of hot days will beconsiderably higher.

There is likely to be regional variability in the number of hot days across Northern Australiadepending on distance from the coast and elevation above sea level. Frost events in upland areas,such as the Atherton Tablelands will decline in the future.

Average sea surface temperatures

Since 1950, average sea surface temperatures have increased across the oceans adjacent toNorthern Australia between 0.6-1.1˚C (BOM 2013). Future ocean warming will depend on the RCPscenarios (Box 1), but it would be reasonable to assume that sea surface temperatures will closelytrack changes in atmospheric warming.

Changes in annual and seasonal rainfall

Climate models - based on the latest IPCC emission scenarios (Box 1) - show that future projectionsfor rainfall changes across Australia are much less certain than for temperature. This is because -unlike temperature - the projected direction of change in rainfall in different regions is not alwaysconsistent across climate models (IPCC 2013).

For Northern Australia - while it is appropriate to consider projected changes in annual rainfall -likely changes in seasonality (intra-annual distribution) of rainfall is very important as the regionexperiences distinct wet and dry seasons. Rainfall variability is naturally very high across NorthernAustralia and this must also be considered when we examine future rainfall projections, particularlyfor the wet season.

Annual and seasonal rainfall

Table 2 summarises projected changes in rainfall (%) for Northern Australia utilising the CMIP5global models for the RCP4.5 emission scenario (see Box 1). Projections are provided for thesummer wet-season (December-February), the winter dry season (June-August) and annual values.Unlike temperatures that are expected to increase in all seasons, there is a very large spread in the


models for rainfall across Northern Australia, with the greatest spread occurring during the winterdry-season. However, it should be noted that dry-season rainfall is very low across the vast majorityof Northern Australia, with the exception of exposed areas of the central and wet tropical coasts ofQueensland.

Table 2: CMIP5 global models rainfall projections for Northern Australia for 2035 and 2065. The ranges ofvalues are derived from 42 global models for the RCP4.5 scenario (see Box 1). Values are relative to the

1986-2005 base-line period.Month Year Change in

rainfall (%)DJF (wet season) 2035

2065-20 to +8

-18 to +12

JJA (dry-season) 20352065

-48 to +15-53 to +17

Annual 20352065

-24 to +7-21 to +11

(Source: IPCC 2013)

Overall, there is a tendency towards a decrease in annual average rainfall for Northern Australia,particularly for the dry-season months. However, the lack of agreement among models is a majorsource of uncertainty that will need to be appreciated by planners and policy makers.

Rainfall variability

There is a high degree of natural rainfall variability across Northern Australia, particularly duringsummer wet-season. Rainfall variability tends to be lower in the more northern coastal areas (e.g.Top End of the Northern Territory, Torres Strait and northern Cape York) and more variable insouthern areas (e.g. western Kimberly, Gulf Country, southern Cape York, Wet Tropics andMackay/Whitsunday districts). This variability is strongly influenced by El Niño Southern Oscillation(ENSO) events. El Niño episodes tend to produce drier wet seasons and La Niña episodes wetter wetseasons, with increased risk for more tropical cyclones and extreme rainfall events.

Extreme weather events

Extreme rainfall events

In a warming climate, rainfall extremes are expected to increase in frequency and intensity, whereaschanges in atmospheric circulation patterns will result in little overall change in total annual rainfallin Northern Australia. For example, the largest annual 1-day total rainfall for Northern Australia isprojected to increase towards the end of the century with most climate models under both RCP4.5and RCP8.5 scenarios- despite a tendency towards decrease in annual average rainfall in the region(IPCC 2013).


Tropical cyclones

Globally, climate change and associated warming is predicted to increase the intensities of tropicalcyclones in the future while having largely neutral effects on cyclone frequency (Turton 2012). Walshet al. (2004) found that under enhanced greenhouse conditions, simulated numbers (frequency) oftropical cyclones in the Northern Australian region do not change very much compared with thosesimulated for the current climate. However, they noted a 56% increase in the number of simulatedstorms with maximum winds greater than 30 m s–1 (alternatively, a 26% increase in the number ofsevere storms with central pressures less than 970 hPa). More recent research by Knutson et al.(2010) - based on theory and high-resolution dynamical models - consistently suggests thatgreenhouse warming will cause the globally averaged intensity of tropical cyclones to shift towardsstronger storms, with intensity increases of 2–11% by 2100. However, existing modeling studies alsoconsistently project decreases in the globally averaged frequency of tropical cyclones, by 6–34%depending on the oceanic basin under consideration (Knutson et al., 2010). Balanced against this,higher resolution modeling studies typically project substantial increases in the frequency of themost intense cyclones and increases of the order of 20% in the rainfall rate within 100 km of thestorm centre (Knutson et al., 2010).

In the recent IPCC 5th Assessment Report (IPCC 2013), projected changes of tropical cyclonefrequency have been assessed in the current generation of models over the Australian northeast andnorthwest regions, from both the large-scale environmental conditions that promote cyclones andfrom direct simulation of cyclone-like synoptic features. Results in both regions generally indicate adecrease in the formation of tropical cyclones. In summary - based on global and regional studies -tropical cyclones are projected to become more intense but less frequent across Northern Australia,but we cannot confidently project any further changes in their movement or frequency that may berelevant to the region. Such changes have profound implications for human communities,infrastructure, primary industries and key ecosystems in Northern Australia.

Changes in sea level

Global mean sea level has risen by 0.19 [0.17 to 0.21] m, estimated from a linear trend over theinterval 1901–2010, based on tide gauge records and additionally on satellite data since 1993 (IPCC,2013). It is very likely that the mean rate of sea level rise was 1.7 [1.5 to 1.9] mm yr–1 between 1901and 2010. Between 1993 and 2010, the rate was very likely higher at 3.2 [2.8 to 3.6] mm yr–1;similarly high rates likely occurred between 1930 and 1950 (IPCC, 2013).

Box 2 summarises projections in global average sea level for the 21st Century for various RCPemission scenarios (IPCC 2013). It may be assumed that changes in sea level across NorthernAustralia will emulate global trends but there will be regional differences. In the near future (2030),the projected range of sea level rise for the Northern Australian coastline is 0.08 to 0.18 m above the1986-2005 baseline level, with only minor differences between RCPs (see Box 1). For the far future(2090) it ranges from 0.30 to 0.65 m for RCP 4.5 and 0.44 to 0.87m for RCP 8.5 (IPCC 2013). Takinginto account the nature of extreme sea levels along the Northern Australian coastline, structures(e.g. sea walls) would need to be raised by around 0.15 m by 2030 for all RCPs and by around 0.72m


by 2090 for RCP4.5 and 1.01 m for RCP8.5 to maintain the current frequency of extreme sea levelevents.

Box 2: Projections from process-based models of global mean sea level rise relative to 1986–2005for the four emissions scenarios RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0 and RCP8.5. (IPCC 2013).

Extreme sea level events

The effects of rising average sea levels will be felt more severely during extreme storm conditionswhen strong winds coupled with falling barometric pressure bring about temporary and localisedincreases in sea level known as a storm surge. According to Church et al. (2009) for every 10 cmincrease in sea level, the frequency of extreme events increases by a factor of three. For manycoastal locations in Northern Australia, sea level rise means that the present 1 in 100 year eventcould potentially occur more than once a year by 2100. In Queensland, scientists predict that stormsurges will occur more frequently this century due to a combination of rising sea level and moresevere tropical cyclones (OCC 2008).

McInnes et al. (2000) completed a detailed study of the impact of tropical cyclone storm surges inCairns under the current climate (Year 2000) and around 2050 (corresponding with a doubling ofpre-Industrial CO2 levels). While this study is restricted to the greater Cairns area, it provides usefulinsights that have wider applicability across Northern Australia. In their study, one thousand stormsurge simulations were performed representing 5000 years of cyclone occurrence. Sea level heightsin the present climate (Year 2000) for return periods of 50, 100, 500 and 1000 years weredetermined to be 2.0m, 2.3m, 3.0m and 3.4m respectively (McInnes et al. 2000). In an enhancedgreenhouse climate (around 2050), these heights increase to 2.4m, 2.8m, 3.2m, 3.8m and 4.2mrespectively. Importantly, these sea level values are now superseded by research by the IPCC (2013)indicating higher sea levels by 2100 (Box 2).


Other aspects of climate

For policy-makers, there is an interest in projections for climate variables other than temperature,rainfall, sea level rise and extreme events that also influence processes in the landscape, like plantgrowth and the hydrological cycle. Some of these variables are now evaluated.

Solar radiation is expected to decrease in winter (dry season) and spring (wet season build up), andincrease in autumn (monsoon retreat season) across Northern Australia under the highest RCPemission scenario (Box 1); however there is a large spread of model simulations. Changes in solarradiation may impact on a range of other climatic variables, notably evapotranspiration rates andmay also affect crop production rates.

Small decreases in relative humidity across Northern Australia are favoured over increases duringsummer and autumn periods, with little change in winter and increases more likely in spring,especially under the highest RCP scenario. Relative humidity by itself is fairly meaningless and needsto be considered in relation to projected changes in air temperature for various RCP scenarios.Higher temperature, coupled with lower relative humidity, will increase evapotranspiration rates(water loss) for native vegetation, crops and pastures.

Evapotranspiration is projected to increase in all seasons across Northern Australia. Annual potentialevaporation, relative to the 1961-1990 baseline, is projected to increase by 2% by 2030 and 6-10%by 2070 (CSIRO & BOM 2007).

Wind speeds are expected to increase across northeast Australia but there is no trend for the rest ofNorthern Australia. Higher wind speeds have implications for a range of other climatic factors,including enhancing evapotranspiration loss from soils, water bodies and vegetation. Potentially,higher wind speeds during the dry season will also enhance the rates and spread of bushfires.

Acidification of the oceans adjacent to Northern Australia is projected to increase in line withchanges in atmospheric CO2. Oceans become more acidic as CO2 emissions in the atmospheredissolve in the ocean. This change is measured on the logarithmic pH scale, with lower vales beingmore acidic. The pH of the oceans has decreased by about 0.1 pH units since 1850, which isequivalent to a 25% increase in acidity. The pH levels of the oceans is projected to decrease evenmore by the end of the century as CO2 concentrations are expected to increase for decades to come(IPCC 2013).

Fire weather conditions are expected to worsen across Northern Australia. Climate change is likely toincrease the frequency and intensity of extreme fire days and result in a longer fire season across theregion (Lucas et al. 2009). Fire seasons may start earlier and end slightly later as well as being moreintense.


Summary and conclusions

The IPCC (2013) are now 95% confident that human activities are changing Earth’s climate evenwhen allowances are made for natural variability due to solar and volcanic activity. NorthernAustralia may expect significant changes in its climate this century and policy makers will need toincorporate the latest climate science knowledge and data into their adaptive management andplanning systems. The main findings of this section in regard to Northern Australia are:

Air and ocean temperatures are expected to increase in response to increasing GreenhouseGas (GHG) emissions

We can expect more hot days and fewer cold days in the future There is considerable uncertainty about how climate change may affect rainfall across

Northern Australia due to naturally high rainfall variability but with higher GHG emissionsthere is evidence that the dry season will be longer and drier while the wet season willremain similar

Extreme rainfall intensity may increase in the future The intensity of tropical cyclones is likely to increase in the future while overall cyclone

frequency may decrease Sea levels should continue to rise but may vary at the regional level Frequency and height of storm surges are expected to increase due a combination of rising

sea levels and more intense tropical cyclones Fire weather conditions are expected to worsen with increased frequency or intensity of

extreme fire days Solar radiation is expected to decrease in winter (dry season) and spring (wet season build

up), and increase in autumn (monsoon retreat season) under the highest RCP emissionscenario; however there is a large spread of model simulations

Small decreases in relative humidity are favoured over increases during summer and autumnperiods, with little change in winter and increases more likely in spring, especially under thehighest RCP scenario

Evapotranspiration is projected to increase in all seasons Average wind speeds are expected to increase across eastern areas Ocean acidity will increase in line with increases in atmospheric CO2

Recommendations for Policy Makers

Adaptation to climate change across Northern Australia must engage all of society, includingindustry sectors, communities and individuals (Turton et al. 2014). Domains that are emerging askey priorities for natural resource management and community planning in Northern Australia are:

Infrastructure, including roads, ports, coastal structures, water and energy supplies andcommercial and residential buildings at risk due to rising temperatures, rising sea levels andmore extreme weather events.

Coastal zones and estuaries and all areas at risk of sea-level rise, storm surges and floods.


Agriculture, the food supply, and other primary production, including forestry and miningthat are highly sensitive to rising temperatures, greater seasonally in rainfall and saltwaterintrusion in coastal aquifers due to rising sea levels.

Other climate-dependent industries that will be negatively impacted by rising temperaturesand sea levels, e.g. tourism on the Great Barrier Reef and Kakadu National Park.

The natural environment, including and all the biodiversity within them that is likely to behighly sensitive to rising temperatures, greater seasonality of rainfall and increased bush firerisk.

Biosecurity risk, including weeds, pathogens and exotic tropical diseases that will benefitfrom increasing temperatures.

If we are to build ‘pathways’ to climate adaptation across Northern Australia we need to position ourNRM sectors, regions and human communities so that they are flexible and ready to change whenthe need arises. This will require the knowledge and tools to build the necessary biophysical, socialand institutional capacity to adapt to climate change and to inform government policy at all levels.

References

BOM (2013) Climate Change and Variability. http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/change, accessed 15 December2013.

Church J., White N., Hunter J. et al. (2009) Briefing: a Post-IPCC AR4 Update on Sea-Level Rise. AntarcticClimate Ecosystem Cooperative Research Centre, Tasmania.

CSIRO & BOM (2007) Climate Change in Australia: Observed Changes and Projections. Technical Report,Technical Report, CSIRO & Bureau of Meteorology, www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au, accessed 16December 2013.

Hennessy K., Webb L., Kirono D. et al. (2008). Climate Change Projections for Five Australian Tourism Regions.CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia

IPCC (2001) Special Report on Emission Scenarios (https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/special-reports/spm/sres-en.pdfIPCC (2007) Summary for Policymakers: Climate change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability,

Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel onClimate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

IPCC (2013) Summary for Policymakers: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution ofWorking Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (eds T.F.Stocker, D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S. K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex & P.M. Midgley).Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.

Knutson T.R., John L. McBride J.L., Chan J. et al. (2010) Tropical cyclones and climate change. NatureGeoscience 3, 157-163

Lucas C., Hennessy K., Milk K.G. et al. (2009) Bushfire Weather in Southeast Australia: Recent Trends andProjected Climate Change Impacts. Bushfire Cairns Regional Council, and Australian Bureau ofMeteorology, CSIRO Division of Marine and Atmospheric. Consultancy Report prepared for the ClimateInstitute of Australia.

McInnes K.L., Walsh K.L. & Pittock A.B. (2000) Impacts of Sea-Level Rise and Storm Surges on Coastal Resorts. AReport for CSIRO Tourism Research. CSIRO Atmospheric Research, Victoria.

Office of Climate Change (OCC) (2008) Climate Change in Queensland: What the Science is Telling Us.Queensland Government.

Turton S. M., Hill R. & Moran C. (2014) Draft Adaptation Pathways and Opportunities for the Wet Tropics NRM


Cluster Region. James Cook University, Cairns.Turton S.M. (2012) Securing landscape resilience to tropical cyclones in Australia’s wet tropics under a

changing climate: Lessons from Cyclones Larry (and Yasi). Geographical Research 50 (1): 15-30Van Vuuren et al. (2011) The representative concentration pathways: an overview. Climatic Change 109: 5-31.Walsh K.J.E., Nguyen K.-C. & McGregor J.L. (2004) Fine-resolution regional climate model simulations of the

impact of climate change on tropical cyclones near Australia. Climate Dynamics 22: 47–56.


Economic equity and major developmentProfessor Natalie Stoeckl, Faculty of Law, Business and Creative Arts, The Cairns Institute,James Cook University.

IntroductionIt matters not whether one looks at labour income or non-labour income or atdifferent measures of income/wealth concentration, inequality has been increasingwithin and across many countries throughout the last few decades (Jaumotte et al.,2013). Australia is no exception: indeed on some measures, this country is more‘unequal’ than the majority of other OECD countries (specifically, the gap betweenthe poorest and the richest 10% of households). Most notable, has been the recentrise in the share of total income that has gone to the richest 1% of Australians: in1980 the richest 1% received just 5% of all income, but by 2008 the richest 1% werereceiving almost 12% of income – the fourth highest of all OECD countries1 (Hoelleret al., 2012). Thus, despite Australia’s progressive tax system, and targeted cashtransfers which seek to redistribute incomes, its above-average wage dispersion, andits large share of part-time/casual workers (Watson, 2013) means that householddisposable incomes are unevenly distributed and are becoming even more unequalover time (Hoeller et al. 2012). Regional inequality has also risen sharply in recenttimes (Rodriguez-Pose, 2012)2.

This recent increase in inequality is likely to have surprised earlier generations ofeconomists, primarily because Kuznets (1955) observed that – in the United States,England and Germany – increases in inequality occurred during the early periods ofurbanization and industrialization, but inequality fell once each country reached acertain level of prosperity. Yet despite the fact that early empirical tests werelargely supportive of this Kuznets Hypothesis in a variety of different contexts(Ahluwalia, 1976; Papanek and Kyn, 1986; Campano and Salvatore,1988), morerecent studies have not found evidence of diminishing inequality beyond a givenincome level (e.g. Anand and Kanbur, 1993; Deninger and Squire, 1998). This is alsotrue in Australia (Cheng, 2006). The policy implication of this, is that one cannotsimply aim for economic growth, hoping that inequality will (eventually) look afteritself. If one cares about inequality, one may need to take a more nuanced look atgrowth and development.

But should we care about inequality, or should we instead aim only for growth? Awide body of research, stemming back as far as Pigou (1920) 3, suggests that it is notjust the amount of money one earns that is important, but the amount one earnswhen compared to other people. Indeed feelings about ‘fairness’ are commonplace

1 . In 2008, only Canada, GBR and the USA were more unequal, with the richest 1% of householdsreceiving 13%, 14% and 18% of all income respectively (Hoeller et al., 2012).2 Albeit from a low base if using indices that have been calculated for large regions (e.g. Australia’s 8states and territories) – as per Ecuzza and Rodriguez-Pose (2013a). Researchers who considerregional inequalities for a larger number of smaller regions invariably detect much larger regionalinequalities since working with much less aggregated data (see, for example, Reeson et al, 2012).3 cited in Hoeller et al., (2012, p 9) “ …a larger proportion of the satisfaction yielded by the incomes ofrich people comes from their relative, rather than from their absolute, amount.”


(Fehr and Schmidt, 1999; Dawes et al., 2007) – not just amongst humans, but alsoamongst monkeys (Brosnan and de Wall, 2003) and other animals4. As such, failureto address inequity, may generate social unrest (Wilkinson, 1996). But even thosewho do not have a strong sense of ‘fairness’ may have good cause to worry aboutexcessive concentration of wealth. Inequality has been linked to numerous social‘ills’ which include, but are not limited to: crime, violence, drug abuse, and largeprison populations (Wilkinson, 1996; Wilkinson and Pickett, 2010). Prisons, lawyers,police officers and security guards are not ‘free’, so all of these ills impose costs uponon society (Detotto and Otranto, 2010; Cohen, 2012). Inequality has also beenlinked to school bullying (Elgar et al., 2013) and to poor health outcomes (in poorcountries - the link between inequality and health is inconclusive in richer countries,Leigh et al, 2009), possibly impacting health expenditures and thus governmentbudgets.

Marginalised groups also tend to be quite vulnerable, lacking resilience or adaptivecapacity and may thus require more government assistance to facilitate recuperationto unexpected shocks than less marginalized groups (Jaumotte et al., 2013).Moreover, inequality of ‘outcome’ is often associated with inequality of‘opportunity’, with long term ramifications. It has been argued, for example, thatlow income families are not be able to afford the same quality of education for theirchildren as high income families (Bailey and Dynarski, 2011; Duncan and Murnane2014). As such, today’s unequal outcomes often contribute to tomorrow’s unequalopportunities. This limits the growth potential of entire economies since not allmembers are able to fully contribute to or exploit emerging opportunities (Jaumotteet al., 2013).

Inequality is particularly profound in parts of Northern Australia – it is home to someof the country’s most disadvantaged people (as shown in the Australian Bureau ofStatistic’s SEIFA indices5) and to many of the country’s children who are most at riskof social exclusion (Tanton et al., 2009). Indeed at least one-quarter of Australia’snorthern population belongs to the country’s most socioeconomically disadvantagedand vulnerable group of people: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Carson et al.,2009). Many of these Indigenous people live in abject poverty (Hunter, 1999),despite concerted policy attempts to ‘close the gap’ (a policy goal which many feel islargely unachievable within the near future - see, for example, Taylor and Hunter,1998; Hunter and Gray 1999; Altman et al., 2008; Altman 2009; Pholi et al. 2009).And the costs of that poverty are evident, this has not just been measured in socialterms (e.g. by comparing the significant differences in the life expectancy of thesetwo groups - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2010), but also economic:Taylor and Stanley (2005) estimate that the opportunity cost of poverty in just oneremote Aboriginal settlement in Northern Territory likely exceeds $40m per annum(measured as the value of foregone production).

In short, being concerned about inequality is not just about having ‘warm glow’feelings: inequality imposes costs upon society. The exciting corollary to this fact

4 See, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKhAd0Tyny05 http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/seifa


however, is that economic developments that help reduce inequality may generatesubstantial benefits beyond those normally considered (they may, for example,result in less government taxes being spent on unemployment benefits or on crimeand protection). The current focus on Northern Australia thus provides policy andother decision makers with a heady opportunity: to identify development proposalsthat both increase incomes and reduce inequality – two goals which are notincompatible (Koske et al., 2012).

Challenges to be addressedDecades of work by researchers using various simple and numerous highlysophisticated techniques to analyse firm-level and country-level data has shed muchlight, and raised many questions, about the ‘causes’ of inequality, of which there aremany. There is evidence to suggest, for example, that decentralisation may increaseregional disparities (Ecuzza and Roedriguez-Pose, 2013a). Trade is thought toincrease regional inequalities in low-middle income countries that are stronglyintegrated with the rest of the world, but trade has, in other circumstances, beenassociated with reduced inequality (Roedriguez-Pose, 2012, Jaumotte et al., 2013).Globalisation is also believed to have an important role to play: ‘off-shoring workers’is a practice that tends to marginalise workers who perform routine tasks;multinational firms tend to employ higher income earners than national firms; andtrade-induced innovation impacts relative wages (Harrison et al., 2010). Those pointsaside, the balance of research seems to suggest that recent world-wide increases ininequality are most significantly attributable to advances in technology (Jaumotte etal., 2013; Rodriguez-Pose, 2013b).

Formally, technology is believed to affect inequality because technologicaldevelopments increase the demand for (and thus the incomes of) skilled workersmuch more than the demand for (and thus incomes of) unskilled workers. Morerecently, researchers have considered three groups of workers (low, middle andhighly skilled) in more sophisticated models, but are in agreement that technologicalprogress favours the highly skilled (Jaumotte et al., 2013; Rodriguez-Pose, 2012).Emerging insights suggest that technology may displace the ‘middle’ group, but notnecessarily the very unskilled (Acemoglu and Autor, 2010). The key point to bemade here, however, is that what happens in the labour market largely determinesthe equity/inequity outcome of changes throughout the world.

The story is no different in regional and northern Australia. Reeson et al. (2012),compared mining activity (a high-technology industry in this part of the world) withmeasures of income inequality for both males and females in 728 Australian regions.They found evidence to support the Kuznets hypothesis for males (i.e. low inequalitywith no mining, then moderate inequality with some mining, and low inequality withhigh levels of mining), but for females, increases in mining activity were, everywhere,associated with increases in inequality. They believe that these marked differencesare linked to the labour market: males are more likely to be employed in mining orassociated industries than females, and are thus in a better position to be able tocapture either direct, or indirect benefits from industrial expansion.


Having no way of earning money locally (be it through the sale of labour, the hire ofland and equipment, or the sale of other goods and services) is also what seems todrive the marked inequities that exist between Indigenous and Non-Indigenouspeople in northern Australia (Stoeckl et al., 2013a). Far fewer Indigenous people areemployed within the private sector, or are the owner/operator of private businessesthan would be expected on a per-capita basis (Stoeckl et al., 2007a). So whenregional developments occur, far fewer Indigenous people are able to benefit fromthem (either directly, or indirectly) than non-Indigenous people.

Reeson et al’,s (2012) research suggests that the problem of not being able tobenefit from regional development (in their study, mining) also appears to affectwomen in rural/regional areas. The problem will also apply to other individuals whoare not financially connected to the rest of the economy. Simply put: those who donot have the opportunity to sell labour, goods or services to new developments orprojects (either directly, or indirectly by participating further down the supply chain)have no means of benefiting from them financially.

Moreover, these financially marginalised groups (those who reap few benefits fromdevelopment) may also have external costs imposed upon them – perhapsmanifested as higher housing prices (Rolf et al, 2007), or reduced environmentalservices (Stoeckl et al, 2013b). As such, it is possible that some within thecommunity will incur net financial benefit from new developments whilst others willunambiguously loose. This issue likely explains at least some of the communitybacklash and discontent associated with new development proposals in regionalQueensland: Rolfe et al. (2010) found that the indirect (flow-on) benefits associatedwith the mining-industry6 were higher in Brisbane (where mining does not occur)than in the regional areas (where the impacts of mining are felt).

The key point to be made here, therefore, is that unless one can find ways of forgingstrong financial connections between broad sectors of the community, large-scaledevelopment projects (particularly those involving new or advanced technology)may exacerbate regional inequalities, imposing hidden costs upon the widercommunity.

Key policy directionsThere are numerous different ‘projects’ that could be implemented in NorthernAustralia for the benefit of the region and the country as a whole. If these projectsare assessed and implemented as isolated enclaves (Faal, 2007), the growth thatoccurs may be uneconomic (Daly and Farley 2004) in that the costs of achieving suchgrowth (including those associated with increased inequality) may exceed thebenefits. Alternatively, projects could be selected, not just on individual merit, andnot just subject to the ‘usual’ factors included in environmental or social impactassessments, but on their ability to reduce inequalities (or, at the very least, not to

6 Formally, the multipliers


exacerbate them) by forging strong financial links with existing residents andbusinesses of the north.

RecommendationsThis suggests a primary need to use metrics that enable one to assess the extent towhich large scale projects ‘connect’, financially, to the local economy (see Stoeckl,2007, for one example). Such metrics should be used in conjunction with otherinformation when assessing the desirability, or otherwise, of project proposals. Theycould also be used in long-term monitoring programs, perhaps setting targets forincreased financial connectivity over time. Supporting policies that could be put inplace to help meet those targets include, but are by no means limited to:

- Implementing institutional reforms – particularly those relating to theownership of core assets such as land and water. This may be particularlyimportant for Indigenous people.

- Devising community consultation processes (prior to projects beingapproved) that are specifically designed to identify opportunities for localresidents and businesses to forge financial connections with projectproponents. There will clearly be some goods (e.g. high technology pieces ofcapital equipment) which will need to be sourced from outside the region,but there are numerous other ways in which members of the communitymight ‘connect’ (perhaps supply food for, or even running a dining hall incases where workers live on-site in relatively remote locations).

- Developing programs that support the development of small businesseswhich supply goods and services to large-scale projects. A large percentageof first-time businesses that are operating in less challenging environments(e.g. in urban areas) fail during their first year of operation (up to 70% - seeShane, 2009). Moreover, research indicates that education levels, and accessto finance are highly correlated with business outcomes (Doms et al., 2010).So simply encouraging people to start small businesses, particularly peoplewho are at socioeconomic disadvantage, without providing long-termtraining and support may be all but dooming them to fail. As such, on needsto developing long-term programs which might initially involve training,education and work experience, but which would evolve over time,culminating in the situation where participants took over management, andthen ownership of businesses that supply the goods and/or services to thelarge scale developments.

- Positive Discrimination Policies for large-scale projects – specifically designedto favour ‘local’ or marginalised employees or suppliers. Care must be takento ensure that such measures do not create long term incentives foreconomically inefficient behaviours - see Fryer and Loury, 2005 for a goodoverview).

Importantly, by enhancing the extent to which large scale developments ‘connect’ towithin regional economies, one is increasing the size of local multipliers, and thusenhancing the net regional benefit of those projects. Not only will this serve a‘fairer’ pie to communities in the North, but it will serve a larger pie.


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Stoeckl, N., Stanley, O., Brown, V., and Stoeckl, W., (2007a), Regional Economic Multipliers inAustralia’s Tropical Savanna, TS CRC Project Report, October 2007, James Cook University,Townsville, 113 pages, available at:http://savanna.cdu.edu.au/savanna_web/publications/downloads/Regional-Economic-Multipliers-in-the-Tropical-Savannas.pdf

Tanton, R., Harding, A., Daly, A., McNamara, J., and Yap, M., 2009 “Australian Children atRisk of Social Exclusion: A spatial Index for Gauging Relative Disadvantage”, Population,Space and Place, 16: 135 – 150.

Taylor J and Hunter B (1998) The job still ahead: Economic costs of continuing Indigenousemployment disparity. Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research.

Taylor, J., and Stanley, O. (2005) The Opportunity Costs of the Status Quo in the ThamarrurRegion, Working paper no 18/2005, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research,Canberra.

Watson, Ian. "Bridges or traps? Casualisation and labour market transitions in Australia."Journal of Industrial Relations 55.1 (2013): 6-37.

Wilkinson, R. 1996. Unhealthy societies. The afflictions of inequality. London: Routledge.

Wilkinson, R. and K. Pickett (2010), The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone,Penguin Books Ltd.


Land tenure and development in northern Australia

Land tenure issues are often considered as one of the significant barriers to encouraging development andinvestment in northern Australia. While tenure plays an important part in development, it is a contributingrather than the driving factor leading to uncertainty for investors. Indeed, resolving land tenure issuesoften depends on the resolution of higher level policy and land use conflicts. This contribution, basedsubstantively on the work of JCU and CSIRO (2013)1, synthesises some of the most critical issues that havepreviously been identified by the Northern Australian Ministerial Forum with respect to tenure andnorthern development issues.

While the general principles of land ownership (predominantly freehold) under “common law” have beenrelatively stable in large parts of southern Australia, in the north, there is limited freehold title, and it isoften clustered around major centres. Across the wider north, concepts of ownership on lands previouslyheld by the crown have also changed significantly in the last 30 years, with pre-existing Indigenous rights(e.g. native title) now having been recognised in law, and new statutory forms of land rights having beenestablished. A perhaps more contentious reality has been that, in recent times Commonwealth, State andTerritory regulation has also placed increasing restrictions on many of the tenure-based rights which wouldotherwise have accrued with land and natural resource ownership. Debates about land tenure in the northhave been increasingly driven by economic development, and in particular, control of important resourcessuch as minerals, prime agricultural land and conservation assets.

The characteristics of land tenure in northern Australia

One often forgotten reality of the north is that the historical foundations of tenure are, to a large extent,fundamentally different to those in the south of Australia. The original northern Australian system of landtenure was designed to expedite land settlement, secure investment in traditional agriculturaldevelopment and reserve land for Indigenous and later conservation purposes (Holmes, 2000). Thelandscape scale consequences of this approach is that the vast majority of land (75.4%) is Crown-owned,two thirds of which is pastoral leasehold. Another 18.5% is Indigenous land. Privately owned land accountsfor only some 6.1% (Fig. 1). The proportions of Indigenous land and leasehold land are significantly higherthan in southern Australia. Native title claims and mining and gas exploration permits also cover significantparts of the landscape. There are a number of features of land tenure and its administration in northernAustralia that make it both complex and unique (JCU and CSIRO, 2013):

There are multiple and often overlapping tenure types for the same area of land; Administrative arrangements for land tenure and classifications of similar tenure types vary across

State and Territory jurisdictions; For potential investors, multiple interactions are often required with government to gather the

tenure-related information to assess sovereign risk and implement tenure change; There are new and emergent tenures or changes to rights related to assets such as water, carbon

and biodiversity. Tenure regimes related to these assets are uncertain and evolving; and Some of these tenures co-exist with other tenures, creating circumstances in which there are

multiple, overlapping and possibly contested entitlements.

1 JCU and CSIRO (2013) Land Tenure in Northern Australia: Opportunities and Challenges for Investement. James Cook Universityand CSIRO. Contributing authors: Allan Dale (JCU), Marcus Lane, Bruce Taylor, Ryan McAllister, Oswald Marinoni, Sonja Heyenga,Anthea Coggan, Sean Pascoe, John Ward and Tom Measham (CSIRO). Access full report at:http://www.regional.gov.au/regional/ona/land-tenure/land-tenure-in-northern-australia.aspx

Allan Dale, The Cairns Institute, James Cook University and Bruce Taylor, CSIRO.


There are efforts to improve tenure management arrangements underway in each of the north’sjurisdictions (see JCU and CSIRO 2013). For instance, each of the State and Territory jurisdictions haverecently or are currently undertaking reviews of their own tenure arrangements, particularly with respectto pastoral leasehold lands. These recent and proposed changes aim to enable more diverse uses withintenures and to clarify access and use rights in circumstances where there are multiple entitlement holders.In addition to proposed pastoral land reforms, other recent work has focused on improving the secureallocation of water entitlements and clarifying Indigenous interests in land and water.

Figure 1 Extent of major land tenure types in northern AustraliaSource: Published in JCU and CSIRO (2013) based on data originally compiled from PSMA 2013 & cadastraldataset of Australia, February 2013.

Opportunities for tenure and barriers for progression

The opportunity for reform in land tenure to drive diverse investment in the sustainable development ofnorthern Australia is significant. Such changes could reduce conflict and encourage more optimal use andmanagement of the north’s natural resources, while also protecting the rights of interests of traditionalowners. Potential new reforms could also enable land owners to sequester and manage vital ecosystemservices such as water, biodiversity and carbon while providing additional economic developmentopportunities. The recent report to the NAMF proposed three broad areas of focus for realising theseopportunities in the short, medium and long terms. Table 1 provides a summary of the individualopportunity that might be actioned as well as the feasibility and benefit likely to be derived over time.

Table 1. Key opportunities for improving land tenure arrangements in the north.

Opportunity Feasibility Benefit Time Scale

1 year 2-5yr >5

TENURE IMPROVEMENTS

Harmonise key tenure related practicesacross jurisdictions

H H

Provide a single “whole of government”point of contact for tenure resolution

M M


Adopt consistent principles to improveflexibility and diversify land use especially onpastoral and Indigenous lands

H H

Complete roll-out of NWI principles andstatutory water plans across the north

H H

Develop and implement a consistentapproach to indigenous water includingrights to water for commercial purposes

H H

Ensuring consistency of tenurearrangements for carbon/biodiversity in thelandscape

H M

Continuous improvement in progressingnative title / statutory claims

M H

INFORMATION, PLANNING AND MAJOR PROJECT ASSESSMENT

Develop a nationally-consistent and spatiallyexplicit tenure (and registered interests)data system

H M

Reduce project delays by improvingdevelopment assessment practice

M H

Initiate stable, regionally-scaled, strategicland and resource use planning

M M

Source: JCU and CSIRO (2013).

While different sectors and interests across northern Australia face distinct investment issues, the report tothe NAMF in 2013 identified common and significant tenure-related barriers to investment (Table 2). Theseinclude the underlying complexity of tenures and entitlements on a given area of land; the capacity forinvestors to manage across multiple tenures and jurisdictions and resolve disputes efficiently; and the limitsof some types of tenure to allow owners to leverage land assets for capital and development purposes,such as on some Indigenous tenures. It is also important to understand that while tenure is an importantconsideration, it is only one of a number of factors that may impede investment. Infrastructure, distance tomarket, land values and terms of trade all have significant weight in investment decisions.

Table 2: Tenure related impediments to investment as they relate to different sectors and interests.

Impediments Frequency Impact

Mining Delays converting and establishing extraction permits H M

Negotiation of native title agreements & access H M

Inconsistent water pricing regimes and securing water access H M

Negotiating single projects across complex multiple tenures M M

The non-tax-exempt status of native title payments M M

Pastoral andagriculture

Poor flexibility to diversify and realign boundaries H H

Uncertainty with lease renewal processes/term security H H

Lease rental policy not aligned to land productivity M H


“Future Act” triggers are unclear / third-party respondent funding H H

Multiple tenures and limitations on who can hold a lease M M

Insecurity due to exploration and mining rights M M

Limited system of vendor disclosure of government land interests L L

Conservation& ecosystemservices

Some pastoral lease conditions inhibit conservation H M

Costs, restrictions and uncertainties to change lease conditions M M

Legislative inconsistency on carbon rights between jurisdictions L M

Resumption of rights and issuing of third-party rights on NatureRefuges

L H

Water Nascent status of NWI-compliant water plans H L

Unresolved Indigenous rights with respect to water M L

Cross-basin trading can be inconsistent with Indigenous values L L

Inadequate water data and mapping M M

Traditionalowners &Indigenoushomeownership

Unresolved native title and ALRA claims H H

Lack of finance leveraging capacity on tenures H H

Lack of guarantee for mortgaging associated with inalienability H H

Uncertain process for government-leasing of native title lands M H

Insufficient or crude registration of Indigenous tenures L L

Source: JCU and CSIRO (2013).

New directions in tenure management

The case for improving tenure arrangements in northern Australia is compelling, but the challenge in doingso is substantial, requiring significant cross-jurisdictional cooperation and national investment in R&D. Itwill not happen quickly. The report to the NAMF proposed that efforts to reduce impediments toinvestment and development in northern Australia might be pursued in three distinct ways. The first isattending to tenure complexity through administrative or legislative reform. This could involve supportingcollaborative research and policy development partnerships on critical issues of investment and financingon Indigenous tenures; developing consistent principles to guide tenure reviews in the differentjurisdictions; and, improving the quality and accessibility of tenure-related data for northern regions. Thesecond main pathway involves improving the efficiency of development assessment and regulation,including: clarifying major project assessment responsibilities between jurisdictions; better resourcednegotiation and streamlined administration of assessment processes; and, resources to assist with tenure-resolution processes that arise following project approval. The third main pathway could focus on actionsto improve the effectiveness of land and resource planning so that broader ‘regional’ or ‘landscape’ levelsignals exist about the preferred infrastructure and resource use futures for different northern regions.Such planning would provide the broader context in which local level conflicts over tenure can be resolved.

Tenure reform in the north, however, must essentially preserve the rights of, and create opportunities forthe north’s traditional owners. Tenure is implicated in the ongoing social and economic disadvantagesuffered by Indigenous people. Indigenous-led tenure reform on Indigenous tenures, therefore, has a roleto play in ameliorating this situation. Finding the means by which traditional owners can leverage their landassets to raise capital for social and economic development offers great national and local benefit. Thisneeds, however, to be able to accommodate informed consent and the underlying inalienability of title. In


considering these issues (see also NAILSMA 2013), support is required to progress policy options which willhave general applicability to traditional owners across northern Australia. Such work could focus on:

Progressively resolving ongoing native title/land claim issues; Supporting and resourcing the capacity of traditional owners to develop country-based / land use

planning across their estate, township-based land use planning, and wealth generation strategies; Exploring further the most appropriate tenure and financial mechanisms for facilitating investment

leverage (within Indigenous land estates); Supporting traditional owners to explore new and innovative governance models for managing

aspirational/country-based planning and “wealth funds” emerging from economic development; Exploring some form of northern Australian “guarantee or trust fund” to support traditional owners

with sound business investment projects to secure commercial finance, funded either fromamendment to existing or new government funds, private sector investment or innovativeinvestment of local traditional owner-based sovereign wealth funds at local scale; and

Pan-northern partnering with lending institutions to build investment confidence.

Given the complexity and diversity that exists within land tenure arrangements in northern Australiadescribed above, it would be understandable to presume the goals of efficiency and consistency areparamount in the quest for improving opportunities for investment. However, many of the most significantgains in terms of improving investor certainty, and improving development outcomes for northernenterprises and communities, will come from engaging with this complexity in constructive and moreinformed ways that recognise the unique mix of land uses, resources, rights and interests in northern lands.

References

Holmes, J. (2000). Land tenure and administration in northern Australia: needed future directions. InTropical Savannas CRC, Land Administration and Management in the Tropical Savannas: A Better Way,Proceedings of the TS-CRC Forum, 21-22 February 2000, Darwin.

James Cook University and CSIRO. 2013, Land tenure in Northern Australia: Opportunities and challengesfor investment. CSIRO, Brisbane.

NAILSMA (2013b). Indigenous futures and sustainable development in north Australia: Towards aframework for full indigenous participation in economic development. Policy Paper 018/2013.NAILSMA Indigenous Expert Panel, Darwin.


Aboriginal Local Government and Community Sector Partnerships -Sustainable Employment in Northern DevelopmentPatrick Sullivan, Associate Professor, Nulungu Research Institute, University of Notre DameAustralia.


IntroductionDevelopment of the north is an enterprise of the south. Ninety eight per cent of Australians live inmajor cities or inner and outer regional areas,i mostly in the southeast and along the coastal fringeof the continent. It is these Australians who must fund and support northern development. So farthey have been reluctant to do so, leaving the field largely to foreign investment in large-scalemineral extraction and vast open range cattle enterprises. This has left the north vulnerable andunbalanced, both economically and demographically. The Aboriginal population is socially marginalboth in towns and in the bush, and the non-Aboriginal population still rotates through the north fora tour of duty, or an economic boost during their peak productive age. Adolescents are still educatedin the south, and the family as whole refers to themselves as being ‘up here’, semi-permanent ex-pats from ‘down there’. The north as a whole is a satellite outpost of the south.

Many southern Australians may be happy for it to remain so, though improved and augmented: theybelieve there should be more and bigger mines delivering a greater variety of minerals, low-techpastoralism should give way to intensive plantation agriculture, and industrial fisheries should bedeveloped along the substantial coastline. This vision assumes enough spin-off of cash through localservice industries to sustain resident populations and the businesses needed to service them in turn.This vision may self-perpetuate in the medium term, but it is not worthy of greater Australia, and itis not sustainable and just in the long term because:

it offers residents only a second class citizenship experience lacking governmentalservices enjoyed elsewhere, though tempered with the promise of greater cash-in-hand; it neglects the development needs of the long-term land-owning Aboriginalpopulation; and it does nothing to normalise the north in readiness for Australia’s Asia-focusedfuture.

These challenging needs call for rejection of northern Australia as the hip-pocket of the south, andrecognition of northern social development as an essential step in Australia’s unfinished nation-building. To make this transition it is important to build on the capability already here.

This submission to the Northern Australia Advisory Group is a response to the interim report of theJoint Select Committee on Northern Australia and the Commonwealth’s Green Paper on DevelopingNorthern Australia. It acknowledges that the government:

Seeks to advance low or no cost solutions given the current very tight fiscal environment, andfacilitate private sector funding wherever possible.ii

It suggests that sustainable northern development requires redistribution of existingresources, particularly to local governments in the north

It argues that Aboriginal community-controlled organisations already form a network fordelivery of a range of services throughout the remote regions and they should be supportedin collaboration with local government

It observes that there is large unmet need for public services and a large under-employedAboriginal population, and proposes that bringing these together in local government andcommunity organisations is an important function for governments in the northiii

Aboriginal Occupation – the long term basis of northern developmentThe north is not as empty as most conventional maps suggest, populated only by a few coastaltowns and fewer inland settlements.


The landscape is, in fact, occupied by at least one thousand Aboriginal hamlets, villages and towns.Here they comprise close to one hundred percent of the population, and even in the mainstreamtowns they are often between 30% to 70%.

They are further distinguished from the non-native population in both the north and the south bylargely providing their own services through their own voluntary or statutory associations and, insome areas, their control of local government. In addition, they own a substantial proportion of theland of the north, and, on their own lands, they are the majority, permanent and growingpopulation.


Source: Altman and Markham submission to Joint Select Committee on Inquiry into Development ofNorthern Australia, March 2014

This population is the neglected resource for the social development of the north that will underpinsustainable economic development.

Admittedly, the Aboriginal population faces considerable challenges. There is widespread povertyand associated social dislocation, they are woefully under-serviced by government compared tosettled Australia, there is currently hardly any commercial activity to underwrite employment, andthey have educational and capacity constraints in areas valued by the mainstream, while theirexisting skills and capacities are under-utilised and largely unrecognised.

Addressing these challenges is not beyond the power of governments. It depends upon innovativeuse of three existing features of northern political economy: Aboriginal community-owned serviceorganisations; Local Government; and employment in provision of governmental type servicesthrough these bodies to fill this social need and increase incomes, thereby encouraging localcommerce.

Aboriginal community-owned organisationsThere are at least 1400 Aboriginal organisations incorporated under the Corporations (Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander) Act (CATSI Act) north of the tropic of Capricorn.iv Not all of theseorganisations will be active, though all are formally functional since the Registrar of Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander Corporations requires annual reports, and currently has 96% compliance withthis reporting. This figure does not include Aboriginal organisations operating in the north that areincorporated under state association laws, mainstream corporations statutes, and as trusts. Theremay be as many as 3000 Aboriginal organisations when these are added to the count. Aboriginalcorporations are often ‘nested’, so that small family or locality operations are also members ofregional service organisations and umbrella representative bodies. The network of Aboriginalcommunity service organisations has evolved to fulfil almost every aspect of Aboriginal serviceswith, in many cases, up to three or four decades of experience in the field.

As arid region service centres are remote, and typically lack the depth of government agencies andother not-for-profit service providers found in more settled areas, Aboriginal organisations are likelyto be the source of the large majority of available services. The sector comprises several distinctservice domains. Among them:

Community Controlled Aboriginal Health Services Aboriginal Legal Services


multi-purpose ‘resource agencies’ and outreach services targeting dispossessed townfringe groups and homeland communities

arts and media centres, radio and television broadcasting stations, musicians’cooperatives and dance companies

community-controlled schools and education advisory or lobby groups communal councils, which hold and administer Aboriginal land, and provide municipal

type services land councils (sometimes as statutory bodies, in other cases as voluntary advocacy

organisations) language research and maintenance centres sports associations environmental ‘caring for country’ collectives, such as ranger programs communally owned pastoral and farm industry organisations housing cooperatives, tenancy and management organisations.

These sub-categories of the Indigenous sector themselves harbour considerable diversity.Organisations are largely established on the model of a voluntary association where a membershipelects a governing council to administer benefits for members and wider constituents. Someorganisations cross-fund their social aims with commercial activities. For example, an AboriginalMedical Service may pay for its doctors by bulk-billing Medicare. The Commonwealth and stategovernments rely heavily on Aboriginal community organisations for service delivery in remoteareas. The Indigenous sector is an important but unacknowledged part of the wider not-for-profitsector. v Plans to develop the north must recognise the importance of Aboriginal not-for-profitorganisations as expressions of Aboriginal political identity as well as the critical ingredient for theirmaterial security. The personal development of Aboriginal individuals and the social development oftheir communities are intimately tied to the health of the Indigenous sector. Indigenous sectororganisations offer an important antidote to social malaise in Aboriginal settlements. They are theinstitutional framework of Aboriginal civil society and, at the same time, the principle means ofAboriginal civic engagement with the wider world.

As the direct suppliers of services to Aboriginal people the organisations in the Indigenous sectorhave been neglected as an essential component of any plan for improved services. All facets ofexistence in remote communities are affected by at least one, and often many, Aboriginal not-for-profit organisations. Yet they receive little attention in the current policy environment.

The Aboriginal community service sector emerged in the early 1970s largely due to the prescience ofCD Rowley and his influence with the Council for Aboriginal Development and its Chair ‘Nuggett’Coombs:

[Rowley] argued that a more effective way of governing Aboriginals would be throughthe creation of what he termed ‘Aboriginal companies’. He suggested that the stateshould provide the framework through which these companies could be establishedand directly subsidised. He also proposed that the government should ‘hand over tothem [such] special welfare activities as they agree to operate’.vi

The policy environment of the early 1970s was in a similar state of uncertainty to the one we seetoday. The 1967 referendum empowering the Commonwealth to act in Aboriginal affairs wasfollowed by the policy of self-determination. Decades of stable relations between Aboriginal peopleand the Australian state, mediated through missions and state native welfare departments, wereripped up, seemingly overnight. Even the responsible minister declared that he did not understandwhat the new policy of self-determination was all about.vii The members of the newly establishedAboriginal Advisory Council, particularly the great facilitator HC ‘Nugget’ Coombs, seized upon


Rowley’s suggestions as a way forward. Although some Aboriginal organisations can trace theirorigins to the Aboriginal advancement associations of the early twentieth century, formed inresponse to discriminatory legislation, after the referendum of 1967 the Aboriginal services sector asa nationwide phenomenon really began to develop. The Commonwealth, through its Council forAboriginal Affairs, encouraged Aboriginal groups to incorporate explicitly to circumvent stategovernments and began to directly fund the delivery of community development programs.viii At thesame time, and as part of the same generally progressive trend, the Woodward Aboriginal LandRights Commission (1974) recommended that the Commonwealth create a statute for simpleincorporation of Aboriginal groups to administer land held in trust. This indirectly gave rise to theAboriginal Councils and Associations Act 1976 (Cth), though by the time the legislation had passedthrough Parliament it was far from simple. The late 1970s and 1980s saw a rapid expansion ofAboriginal self-help organisations, many of which incorporated under the Act. The Act wassuperseded by the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (CATSI Act), which,in aiming to be more adaptable and accessible, is considerably longer and more complex than theoriginal.

Following the introduction of the Native Title Act 1993, some existing organisations weretransformed, and others brought into existence, as statutory Native Title Representative Bodies toadvance members’ recognition of common law title. Unlike other Aboriginal organisations, groupsrecognised as holding Native Title must incorporate under the CATSI Act, which is an arbitrarylimitation of their choice that many have got around by setting up a management organisationunder mainstream corporations law. The Registered Native Title Bodies Corporate are an increasingfeature of the Aboriginal corporate landscape. Their statutory functions under the Act are limited,but their responsibilities as land holders are vast. Currently, there is no stable funding provision toensure that they can carry out either their statutory functions or their landholder responsibilities.

Arguably, statutory organisations are not part of the community sector, since they are established bylegislation, but in Aboriginal affairs we need to stretch this definition, since statutory organisationscan have many of the characteristics of community organisations. For example, they often haveboards of directors elected by their membership. Their functions, also, can include provision ofservices and advocacy similar to community voluntary associations. Statutory organisations, thoughestablished by government, are relatively independent. This is, after all, their rationale.Governments intend that, by establishing them in legislation, they will perform a quasi-governmental function in an area that requires substantial independence for good publicadministration. This is tempered by the fact that, unlike other community sector organisations,statutory authorities have functions, powers and reporting requirements imposed upon them bytheir legislation, and exist ultimately at the discretion of the government. This can lead to an uneasyrelationship where independence is informally compromised by ever-present threat of changes tothe legislation or dismissal of the board.

Local government is a particular form of statutory authority. Its importance as the de facto third tierof Australian government is generally recognised, although this has no constitutional basis and localgovernments are established by state legislation. As outlined below in this submission, some form ofAboriginal or Torres Strait Islander control of local government exists across the north, though it islimited in Western Australia. Although the recent transition in the Northern Territory from statutorycommunity councils to local government authorities has been surrounded by controversy, inprinciple Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people may gain both greater control of their ownaffairs and greater protection from arbitrary governmental interference by transitioning from thecommunity association model to a form of local government. This suggestion is explored in moredepth in a later section of this submission.

There are at least three reasons that Aboriginal policy making should recognise the importance ofIndigenous sector organisations. They are the critical ingredient in Aboriginal people’s materialsecurity, an expression of Aboriginal political identity and an appropriate modernisation strategy


with the evolution of an Aboriginal civil society. The political dimension of Aboriginal-controlledorganisations has received more public attention than their service delivery functions. This may beone of the reasons that their contribution to the Australian not-for-profit sector has been ignored,though it is also true that they are not a direct counterpart. They are service providers, frequently aform of communal or local-level governance, and also the major expression of Aboriginal civilsociety. They are both drivers of positive social change and manifestations of such social change.This last point is important for the improved effectiveness of government policy goals. As publicattention focuses on the ‘dysfunction’ of Aboriginal communities, and government programs areincreasingly delivered by mainstream processes, Aboriginal civil society institutions need supportand encouragement as the foundation of Aboriginal modernisation. Instead, they are in danger ofincreasing neglect.

Aboriginal community-controlled organisations are the hidden ingredient for the success ofgovernment Aboriginal development objectives. In rural and remote communities, in particular, fewservices are delivered directly by government. Even the core cadre of street-level bureaucrats —teachers, nurses and police — are provided by, or supplemented in partnership with, community-owned schools, community-controlled health services, and local night and dawn patrols or wardens.In most Aboriginal areas municipal services (water, sewerage, electricity, roads), housing andmaintenance, and welfare payments are handled entirely by Indigenous sector organisations. Thestrategic importance of the sector as a whole is unrecognised in the government policy process, andthe individual services that comprise the sector are undervalued. It is a complex sector, and withmore support could make a wider contribution to the public good. The clearest path for securedevelopment of Aboriginal community controlled service delivery lies in partnership with localgovernment.

Local government and the Aboriginal populationAboriginal development can be pursued through greater involvement with local governments andchanges to the fiscal arrangements that disadvantage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.For development of the north, two federal fiscal systems are essential, and yet fatally limiting in theway that they are currently delivered – horizontal fiscal equalisation and Commonwealth GrantsCommission disbursements to local government through state and territory mechanisms.

A review by Fitzgerald and Garnaut of Commonwealth/state funding in 2002 was scathing of thecurrent horizontal fiscal equalisation system administered by the Commonwealth GrantsCommission:

the system reflects what appears to be a particular Australian genius for almost infinitebureaucratic elaboration, usually in pursuit of a perceived concept of equity…Overall,the current system of HFE [Horizontal Fiscal Equalisation] implemented by the CGC[Commonwealth Grants Commission] is a mystery to almost the entire Australiancommunity.ix

This ‘mysterious’ system must be unravelled before suggestions can be made to fortify it to meet theneeds of northern development.

There are five major governmental sources of funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanderdevelopment in the north. There is Commonwealth own-revenue expenditure (usually in Indigenous-specific programs) and state/territory own-revenue expenditure (usually buried in mainstreamprograms). Third, there are specific purpose grants to the states and territories from theCommonwealth. These may be targeted specifically at Indigenous people or may have Indigenousdevelopment objectives embedded in wider objectives and they may be bundled into one of the fivespecific purpose payments allocated under the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 or into NationalPartnership payments. Fourth and fifth, and of most concern to this submission, there are fundscollected by the Commonwealth and distributed to the states through the Commonwealth Grants


Commission. These take two forms: funds raised by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and localgovernment funding under the Local Government (Financial Assistance) Act 1995. This is gainingimportance as Aboriginal people of the north increasingly control or influence statutory localgovernment. The CGC recommends distribution of GST payments using a formula that ensures allstates can provide the same level of service to citizens regardless of local circumstances (horizontalfiscal equalisation).x It uses a similar system to recommend to the Commonwealth how it shoulddisburse its assistance under the Local Government Act.

As Dillon and Westbury have pointed out,xi one major problem with Commonwealth GrantsCommission allocations is that they do not take into account the lack of infrastructure in remoteareas to be able to achieve equalisation of services.

The formula for determining the amount of money the Australian Government transfers to thestates takes into account indicators of social disadvantage. Large Aboriginal populations affect thisconsiderably, but the states are under no obligation to spend their allocations to redress thisdisadvantage. In fact they are under a perverse incentive to maintain remote area disadvantage,since the supplement funding it attracts goes to subsidise metropolitan development. The statesargue that this is their right, since Commonwealth transfers simply recognise the voluntarysurrender of states’ revenue-raising powers since federation. If they were to reassert their sovereignrights they could raise and spend revenue freely without Commonwealth direction.

The Yu report summarises the constitutional basis of fiscal equalisation like this: ‘The intention isthat, if there are differences in fiscal outcomes (service levels per person, or tax burdens perperson), they reflect outcomes of the democratic processes in states and territories not theconsequences of differences in their capacity to afford to deliver services’.xii So we can assume thatthe citizens of the states and territories, through their governments, have decided not to adequatelysupport development in remote areas, and it is time we owned up to this and commenced debateover the national values this imbalanced redistribution reflects . It has historically left theCommonwealth with a disproportionate responsibility for Aboriginal development.xiii The NPs are theonly means for the Commonwealth to direct how the states spend its money, and to leverageadequate state contributions. This is because the major means of providing fiscal equity throughoutthe nation, the specific purpose allocations of the Federal Financial Relations Act, fail the regions,and fail Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders particularly. The disadvantage that Aboriginalpopulations suffer among themselves is also a peculiar advantage that they provide to the states andterritories. They skew funding towards the states where they predominate, but their disadvantage isnot addressed, nor is it legally necessary to address it, once that cash is distributed.

As well as recommending formulas for distribution of GST collections to the states, theCommonwealth Grants Commission provides recommendations for distribution of money from theCommonwealth to the states for funding of local government and local roads, on a per capita basisunder a separate funding regime, the Local Government (Financial Assistance) Act 1995. This also isunfairly distributed. Before signing off on the distribution of this funding through state-based GrantsCommissions, the Commonwealth requires that the states agree to distribute it according to specificnational principles. One of the national principles laid down by the Commonwealth for localgovernment grants is that ‘financial assistance shall be allocated to councils in a way whichrecognises the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders within their boundaries’. This is a fineaspiration that has been whittled down to nothing in practice. The principle is deemed to be met ifthe funding is allocated by the states to local governments only by reference to the proportion ofAboriginal people in a local government area and ‘it remains a decision for each council how thegrant will be spent and what services will be provided for its Indigenous residents’.xiv So the greaterneeds of Aboriginal residents are not recognised, only their relative numbers in relation to otherresidents, and even on this limited basis local governments are under no obligation to spend themoney in Aboriginal areas.


Clearly the intention of the Act in relation to Aboriginal people has not been met. The needs ofAboriginal people in remote parts of Australia under local government are not a function of theirproportions in the population but their distance from services, lack of infrastructure, low educationaland employment levels, ill health, inadequate housing, and a host of other unique conditions –conditions that governments are well aware of. To fulfil its aims the Act needs to provideappropriate mechanisms. Since its inception in 1995 the Act has not worked to fulfil its object ofproviding services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, nor has it met the nationalprinciple of recognising the needs of these communities. If a Commonwealth act so clearly fails oversuch a long period, it is the responsibility of the Parliament to address it. Giving substance to thisnational principle in the Local Government (Financial Assistance) Act would go a long way toproviding the necessary social infrastructure in remote communities for northern development.

The social development of the north that is necessary for long-term economic development can beaddressed by reviewing current CGC funding formulas, both for the GST and local governmentassistance. In addition, direct Commonwealth grants to local government also need to be clarified.Attempts by Labor governments to amend the Constitution in order to fund local governmentdirectly have failed twice in the past.xv More recently the Gillard Labor government proposed areferendum to clarify the Commonwealth’s ability to directly fund local government, but theproposal was withdrawn due to lack of firm bi-partisan support. With the change of government in2013 an opportunity has arisen. The present opposition has already made a commitment to thisprinciple when in government. If the incumbent government reviewed its position, bi-partisansupport could be achieved.

Of all the mechanisms the Commonwealth uses to ensure that there is equality of fiscal outcomesacross the country, the only ones not capable of diversion by the states away from remoteAboriginal areas are the NPs. The Commonwealth uses these to enforce state and territory co-contributions with the contractual insistence that the states will not receive money unless they putup agreed amounts of their own. This system has had mixed success since the introduction of theFederal Financial Relations Act in 2008. It would be more efficient to withhold the states’contribution in the first place from money due to them under the GST and Commonwealthdiscretionary allocations, then add to this the Commonwealth’s share and direct it to regions whereit is most needed. This could be done without changing CGC formulas recommended above. It couldbe an addition to, rather than an amendment of, existing funding under the Local Government(Financial Assistance) Act based on realistic formulas of remote area need while still distributing itthrough state government statutory arrangements such as the state Local Government GrantsCommissions. It would make sense to direct funding to regional alliances of Aboriginal organisationsand networks and existing local government authorities. This approach would recognise stategovernment concerns with ‘states’ rights’, since local government is a subsidiary of stategovernment. It would take advantage of local knowledge and experience, and it would be costeffective by cutting red tape.

Local governments cover most of Australia, though parts of South Australia remain unincorporated.Within the bounds of their responsibilities they can spend their allocations how they like. Theirresponsibilities are broad. According to a report on the operation of the Local Government (FinancialAssistance) Act, they can include:

administration (of aerodromes, quarries, cemeteries, parking stations andstreet parking) building (inspection, licensing, certification and enforcement) community services (child care, aged care and accommodation, refugefacilities, meals on wheels, counselling and welfare) cultural/educational (libraries, art galleries and museums) engineering (public works design, construction and maintenance of roads,


bridges, footpaths, drainage, cleaning, waste collection and management) health (water sampling, food sampling, immunisation, toilets, noise control,meat inspection and animal control) planning and development approval recreation (golf courses, swimming pools, sports courts, recreation centres,halls, kiosks, camping grounds and caravan parks) water and sewerage (in some states) other (abattoirs, sale-yards, markets and group purchasing schemes).xvi

Local governments add other forms of revenue such as property taxes and income from sales ofgoods and services to the Commonwealth funds that are directed through the states, leading toconsiderable disparities both within the various states and between local councils within each state(DITRDLG 2010:12). Although it is universally recognised that many local government areas areunder-funded relative to need and responsibilities, and have chronic liabilities looming becausethere are no reserves to renew decaying infrastructure,xvii local government does offer anopportunity to Aboriginal people to take more effective control of their own development. Indeed,Aboriginal people already have substantial control of local government in outer regional and remoteAustralia, especially in the Northern Territory and Queensland, where there have been recentreforms. Aboriginal control of local government has different outcomes in each state. In WA forinstance Aboriginal electoral numbers can ensure their predominance on local council boardsthroughout the Kimberley, but without much purpose because local governments do not provideservices on Aboriginal land (except for the shire of Ngaanyatjarraku). In Queensland their influence islimited also, but in this case because Aboriginal controlled local governments only administerAboriginal settlements and associated lands.

In the Northern Territory local government servicesxviii in most Aboriginal settlements were, until2008, delivered by councils established as voluntary associations. They covered only a definedsettlement. In addition to the 55 community governance councils, there were four special purposetowns that qualified for local government assistance grants. On 1 July 2008, after a period ofconsultation and negotiation, the Northern Territory Parliament passed the Local Government Act2008, abolishing 51 of the community councils and amalgamating them into eight shires, which weregeographically much larger and contiguous.xix In most of these shires the vast majority of voters areAboriginal, but any advantage this gives them will come slowly because the process of transition hasbeen badly mismanaged.

Despite a reasonably thorough and lengthy period of community consultation,xx the plannersunderestimated the emotional attachment of communities to their existing organisations, whichRowley so perceptively predicted in the 1970s. They feel they have been robbed of a part of theircorporate identity, which has not been adequately compensated by shire councils, which in manycases are situated at great distances from their homes. This is only slowly being rectified by theestablishment of local board subsidiaries of the councils, a move that could have been built in fromthe start. More recently, the Northern Territory government has recognised the discontent causedby the ‘super shires’ and is in the process of sub-dividing them.

In time, and with amendments to the electoral system, these changes are likely to be a big stepforward for Aboriginal people in the Territory. In the long run the creation of the shires will be apositive move because it gives to Aboriginal governance the credibility and stability of therecognised third tier of mainstream Australian political life. It will also, with time and resources,provide the necessary oversight and support that Aboriginal governance requires. It ties Aboriginalgovernance into secure funding regimes, though these need improvement. It provides a robustmediating environment between traditional non-incorporated governance systems and the widerAustralian polity.


Similar reforms have been pursued in Queensland, though with the significant difference that theconferral of equal local government powers to Aboriginal Shire Councils has been limited only to theenvirons of large settlements. These previously had a limited form of self-government under theCommunity Services (Aborigines) Act 1984 (Qld). In 2009 the Local Government Act 2009 (Qld)brought these settlements into the mainstream as far as their powers and regulation are concerned,though they remain limited to settlement governance.xxi

In South Australia many Aboriginal communities lie within mainstream local government shires,though they are separately administered. This is the case with all Western Australia Aboriginalcommunities. South Australia has begun to trial service agreements between the shires andcommunities within their boundaries, while Western Australia still finds this difficult to implement,despite releasing a discussion paper to help bring the shires on board with this necessary change in2007.xxii South Australia is also distinctive in that a large part of the state is not incorporated as alocal government area but administered by the Outback Areas Authority. There are four largeAboriginal communities that have local government status under separate legislative arrangements.

In Western Australia municipal and essential services have been provided in settlements bycooperative councils not formally recognised by the state government and entirely funded by theCommonwealth under Aboriginal grant programs not connected to the Local Government Act 1995(WA).xxiii Western Australia does not have the municipal governance of Aboriginal settlements thatQueensland has introduced, though since 1979 they have had the option of adopting the provisionsof the Aboriginal Communities Act 1979 (WA), which would give them the power to make by-lawsenforceable by the courts, but few have taken this up. Under pressure from the Commonwealth totake responsibility for municipal and essential services, the state government circulated a discussionpaper on how this might be achieved and in May 2010 announced a three-year program in whichexisting shires would formulate business plans for how they might take on responsibility for theAboriginal communities within their boundaries. Although Aboriginal majorities in many northernshires give them the ability to control its administration, as they do in the Northern Territory, thereis not the same advantage to them to do so, since the settlements that most concern them areeffectively quarantined from local government services.

Control of local government, and the powers conferred by this control, is highly variable across thecountry and even in remote areas where Aboriginal people are the majority population there is littleeffective regional governance at this scale. There is, nevertheless, great potential here for localalliances to be strengthened with adequate funding and capacity-building support from theCommonwealth. There are conditions that must be met for Aboriginal people to benefit fromdevelopment programs derived and delivered in association with local government:

local government must deliver services to Aboriginal communities commensurate withtowns within the local government area Commonwealth Grant Commission funding formulas and acquittal regimes should bereviewed additional funding should be provided to local governments servicing remote areas(separated from existing funding formulas) based on objective assessment of remote areaneed local government services should be contracted out to Aboriginal community-controlledservice organisations where practicable where Aboriginal people do not form a majority across an entire shire (mainly becauseof non-Aboriginal predominance in the towns), a ward system should ensure that they areproperly represented in such circumstances bicameral arrangements should be pursued where Aboriginalpeople meet in caucus to sort out their views on purely Aboriginal issues, and localgovernments should commit to normally accepting the views that they arrive at


sub-local representative and administrative arrangements should be in place in verylarge shires, and these should be linked by statute or regulation to the local government

Creating employment in developed local economiesThis submission has argued so far that the necessary foundation for social, economic and culturaldevelopment in the north lies in Aboriginal communities, and that these should receive thenecessary services to bring them to acceptable levels of development. This should be done by betterfinancing of northern local government and state/territory services. This should support Aboriginalcommunity organisations, either operating as local governments or in contractual arrangement withlocal governments. The third element of this argument is that this can increase Aboriginalemployment, and therefore income, leading to the necessary conditions for sustainable localeconomies, particularly small-scale commercial enterprises.

The Indigenous sector has great potential for meeting priority development goals through thepersonal development, training and employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals.Over the past 30 years many individuals, most with only rudimentary formal educationalachievements, have come up through the ranks of Indigenous sector organisations. This has been anorganic development, but it requires greater formal recognition and encouragement. Thecontribution of this sector to Aboriginal skills has two broad dimensions: increasing understanding ofgovernance issues through participation as members and on directors’ boards, and fundamental jobskills through employment at all levels from field workers to management.

Indigenous sector organisations are major employers of Aboriginal people. Some in specialist areas,such as Native Title or health, typically have Aboriginal employment mainly at the top and bottom ofthe organisation — the senior management or executive and the clerical staff. Others are muchmore inclusive across all levels. Although already significant, there is considerable room forimprovement in employment and training opportunities. This is dependent both on levels ofgovernment funding and on employment conditions. Delivering government programs throughIndigenous sector organisations increases employment opportunities, and should be coupled withencouragement of Aboriginal employment and training strategies across the sector. The Indigenoussector offers career paths for people of ability who have little formal training and who may transitionto employment, often initially through CDEP, and work their way to managerial levels and influencein national forums. This contributes to the self-esteem and prestige of Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander people and has intangible role model benefits for youth, while contributing to the socialhealth of the nation as a whole. It is also an important source of income for Aboriginal families,xxiv

even though salaries and service conditions in Indigenous sector organisations are lower than thepublic service and commercial organisations.xxv

These conditions act as a brake on the positive effects of Indigenous sector employment. Employeesdo not enjoy comparable opportunities for off-the-job training and skills development either,because of the lack of funds and the day-to-day urgency of the problems they deal with. Notsurprisingly, the public service at both state and Commonwealth levels finds a fertile recruitingground among those who have gained their skills either as directors or as employees (and often bothat different times, or in different organisations). Governments siphon off valuable individuals whoseek greater security and remuneration, often because of their obligations to their families. Tertiaryeducational institutions, and the Aboriginal public they wish to serve, also suffer. The povertyassociated with long periods in tertiary education and the low salaries available to junior academicsand research staff combine to trap highly competent individuals either in their not-for-profit sectororganisations or their public service positions. For the benefit of their communities, governmentsshould commit themselves to funding community sector positions at comparable levels to their ownpersonnel. They should provide greater support for training within organisations and salarycontinuity during tertiary studies. Flexible arrangements for secondment in both directions, from


public service positions to community organisations and the reverse, should be increased.Legislation to ensure the portability of employment entitlements, such as superannuation, leave andsalary increments, should also be explored.

The Indigenous sector functions well in the context of the challenging needs of its member/clientbase and its relative lack of material resources. Its development in the past three decades istestimony to the resilience and capacity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in theircommunities. It has acquired a unique position as both a provider of governmental services and anexpression of cultural identity within Australian society. Both these aspects require support.Government approaches to the sector should go beyond its treatment as simply a subcontractor forthe implementation of policy, recognising that one of its important ‘services’ is its ability toconstitute a uniquely Indigenous component of the nation as a whole, particularly at the local andregional levels. Because of its importance in providing fundamental life-sustaining services, itrequires greater levels of funding than it presently receives, and higher levels of support forprofessional employment and training, in order to meet its heavy responsibilities.

Apart from material support, one way that the effectiveness of the sector can be increased with littlecost is by more appropriate approaches to regulation, greater devolution of policy implementationto the sector (which would cut out some of the supply line barriers) and streamlined standardisedreporting procedures. This requires an intangible change in relations between the sector andgovernment, and the nurturing of an environment of trust between them. Trust is the foundation ofrelational contracting, which is a particular form of mutual accountability.

Aboriginal organisations and local governments are already important employers of Aboriginalpeople in the north. This can be enhanced through appropriate employment programmes. Asuccessful example of employment generation through an alliance of community organisations,governments, and local non-indigenous bodies is the Working on Country Programme. Working onCountry offers standard employment under Award rates (including superannuation) for full-time,part-time and some casual employees. Training and mentoring are offered ‘on the job’ and standardOH&S conditions apply. This programme provides the wider Australian public with the service ofenvironmental rehabilitation and management. It should be used as a model for the provision ofother public goods. Some examples could be: children’s services, aged care, community safety,school support, municipal and essential services, media and communications. are some examples.These are services that all communities expect. They are not delivered at an acceptable standard inremote Australia. Yet there is a large unemployed population in place that is capable, withappropriate support, of delivering these services. The Working on Country Programme hasdemonstrated the viability of this approach.

An assessment of the economic and employment outcomes of the Working on Country program wasconducted by Allen Consulting Group in late 2011. The report delivered a comprehensive economicanalysis of the programme and found that its’ true cost is significantly lower than its budget ‘book’cost. Allen Consulting concludes that the true cost of delivery of program is ‘at least 17 to 23 percent lower than the book cost’, and this calculation does not take into account the national benefitof the programme, since this is more difficult to quantify.xxvi This is attributed to savings foundthrough decreased welfare costs and increased tax revenue. Other cost savings, such as reducedincarceration and improved health, could not be quantified and were not used in this calculation.The results are driven by the high unemployment and low labour force participation rate in the areasin which the program operates. While the economic outputs of the program are higher rates ofemployment, saving (through superannuation), and standard incomes, the economic outcomes ofthe program are positive impacts on the environment, community wellbeing, and local and broadereconomies. Whilst difficult to quantify, socio-economic and environmental values are derived fromthe program, with the greatest savings likely to be found in reduced public health and incarcerationcosts, alongside the environmental benefits from conservation and land management. Additionally


there is a recognisable benefit to social capital through improved levels of empowerment, wellbeingand quality of life – however the subjective nature of these benefits make this an especially difficultvalue to quantify.

While the Allen Groups’ estimates are undoubtedly conservative the benefit to northern Australiawith the adoption of this model includes improved services, lower social service costs, highertaxation receipts, and greater local circulation of disposal income. Seen in this light, money spent onthis model of program is not ‘expenditure’ but ‘investment’. Indeed, this is how Australiansettlement has generally developed – not through the entrepreneurship of frontier pioneers alone,but much more significantly, quietly and unacknowledged, through governmental employment inservices such as roads, rail, post and telephone, electricity, and public administration moregenerally. The rediscovery of this model of development is essential if the north is to develop asanything more than a southern dominion channelling resources overseas through metropolitan-based enterprises that have neither knowledge of nor sympathy for the restitution of Aboriginalsocieties.

Conclusion and RecommendationsThis submission has argued that there is great opportunity to support the long-term permanentpopulation of the north through:

Reform of formulas and funding mechanisms for local government Alliances between local governments, state/territory governments, and Aboriginal-

controlled service organisations New models for public service employment in Aboriginal towns, villages and settlements

These measures do not require substantial new funding sources, rather they require a rebalancing ofnational commitments, recognising the rising importance of the north to Australian nationalaspirations.

i Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2011, Families in Rural Regional and Remote Australia, p. 2.ii Green Paper on Developing Northern Australia, p.x.iii The arguments, suggestions and proposals in this submission are based on the author’s research from 2002with the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), and from 2013 with theNulungu Research Institute, University of Notre Dame Australia. It largely refines research presented in twochapters of the book Belonging Together: Dealing with the Politics of Disenchantment in Australian IndigenousPolicy, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 2011.iv This figure was arrived at by searching the number of registered organisations in each of the major townsnorth of the tropic of Capricorn on the database of Office of the Registrar of Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander corporations. Some towns may have escaped attention so the number may be larger.v.This submission adopts the term ‘Indigenous sector’ from Rowse, T. 2005b, ‘The Indigenous sector’,in D Austin-Broos & G McDonald (eds), Culture, Economy and Governance in Aboriginal Australia,University of Sydney Press, Sydney, pp. 207–23.vi Batty, P 2009, ‘A Record of Confusion, Failures and New Beginnings: (De)Constructing AboriginalCommunity-controlled Organisations’, paper delivered to the AIATSIS Conference ‘Perspectives onUrban Life’, Canberra, 29 September–1 October.vii ibidviii Coombs, HC 1984, The Role of National Aboriginal Conference, Australian Government Publishing Service,Canberra, pp. 25–8.ix Committee for the Review of Commonwealth–State Funding, 2002, Review of Commonwealth–StateFunding: Final report, Melbourne, p. 179.x.The Yu report provides a lucid outline of the national Aboriginal funding environment in Yu, P,Duncan, M and Gray, B 2008, Report of the Northern Territory Emergency Response Review Board,Attorney General’s Department, Canberra, pp. 50-51. In 2001 the Commonwealth Grants


Commission reported on an inquiry into Aboriginal affairs funding relative to need. While itproduced useful information about Aboriginal needs, it cautioned against a redistributive fundingformula because it would take resources away from established areas, Commonwealth GrantsCommission, 2001, Report on Indigenous Funding, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, p. xvii.xi Dillon, MC and Westbury, ND 2007, Beyond Humbug: Transforming Government Engagement withIndigenous Australia, Seaview Press, West Lakes, SA, pp. 185–9.xii Yu, P, Duncan, M and Gray, B 2008, Report of the Northern Territory Emergency Response Review Board,Attorney General’s Department, Canberra, p. 51, emphasis in the original.xiii see also Dillon, MC and Westbury, ND 2007, Beyond Humbug: Transforming GovernmentEngagement with Indigenous Australia, Seaview Press, West Lakes, SA, pp. 185–9.xiv Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) 2010, LocalGovernment National Report 2007–08: Report on the Operation of the Local Government (Financial Assistance)Act 1995, DITRDLG, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, pp. 69–70.xv Megarrity, L 2011 Local Government and the Commonwealth: an Evolving Relationship, ParliamentaryLibrary Research Paper no 10, Department of Parliamentary Services, Canberra.xvi Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) 2010, LocalGovernment National Report 2007–08: Report on the Operation of the Local Government (Financial Assistance)Act 1995, DITRDLG, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, p. 3.xvii Op cit p. 50.xviii.Local government services is a ‘catch all’ term used to avoid drowning in detail. It covers mainlymunicipal and essential services, but local government responsibility for these differs from state tostate. For example, the provision of safe drinking water is governed by different arrangements ineach state.xix.For a more detailed and nuanced description of the Northern Territory situation, see Michel, T,Gerritsen, R and Thynne, I 2010, Northern Territory Scoping Study, Australian Centre of Excellencefor Local Government, Rural-Remote and Indigenous Local Government Programme, Charles DarwinUniversity, Darwin.xx Smith, D 2008, ‘Cultures of Governance and the Governance of Culture: Transforming andContaining Indigenous Institutions in West Arnhemland’, in J Hunt, D Smith, S Garling & W Sanders(eds), Contested Governance: Culture, Power and Institutions in Indigenous Australia, CAEPRMonograph No. 29, Australian National University, ANU E Press, Canberra, pp. 75-111.xxi.Greater detail and depth of analysis are provided in Limerick, M 2010 Indigenous Council Capacity-Building in Queensland, Scoping Paper, Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government.xxii The Bilateral Agreement on Indigenous Affairs, Issues for Local Government: Discussion Paper,Sustainable Environmental Health and Infrastructure Senior Officer Group [WA], September 2007.xxiii.With the exception of the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku.xxiv Altman and Taylor cited in Rowse, T 2005, ‘The Indigenous sector’, in D Austin-Broos & GMcDonald (eds), Culture, Economy and Governance in Aboriginal Australia, University of SydneyPress, Sydney, p. 207.xxv Dwyer, J, O’Donnell, K, Lavoie, J, Marlina, U and Sullivan, P 2009, The Overburden Report:Contracting for Indigenous Health Services, Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health,Casuarina, NT, pp. 41–2.xxvi Allens Consulting Group, 2011. Assessment of the economic and employment outcomes of the Working onCountry Program, report to the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population andCommunities, Canberra, p.30.


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